On the evening of January 25th local time, the state of Alabama in the United States began to carry out the first death penalty for a murderer by nitrogen suffocation. The state said it hopes to promote this new method, which is simpler than lethalinjection. The murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith became the world’s first criminal to be “executed with nitrogen“.
Death penalty experts say this is the first time in the world that inert gas has been used for asphyxiation executions.
According to previous reports, Kenneth was sentenced to death for murder. In 2022, the death penalty was supposed to be carried out by injection, but it ultimately failed. On the evening of January 25th this year, Kenneth was tied to the bed, wore a mask and inhaled only pure nitrogen. Eventually, he suffocated to death due to lack of oxygen.
Some media pointed out that, theoretically speaking, the “nitrogen asphyxiation” method is painless. The authorities in Alabama previously also believed that this “nitrogen asphyxiation” method would cause the inmates to lose consciousness within tens of seconds and die within minutes. However, many people who witnessed Kenneth’s execution process said that this might not be the case.
It is reported that Kenneth’s wife Diana, his family mental counselor Jeff Hood and media reporters witnessed the entire execution process. There was no situation where a person lost consciousness within 30 seconds. Kenneth remained conscious for several minutes after his execution. The entire execution process lasted approximately 22 minutes. According to the authorities in Alabama, the execution began at 7:53 p.m. that day, and Kenneth was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. The nitrogen flow lasted for about 15 minutes.
Jeff emphasized that this was far beyond the time previously expected by the authorities. Jeff added that Kenneth shook back and forth for several minutes and kept stretching his head forward and struggling. “Kenneth was definitely not a good person, but I don’t want this kind of execution to happen again either.”
It was reported that during Kenneth’s struggle, Deanna was also Shouting loudly. Media person Lee Hekipees, who witnessed the execution process, said that he had seen four executions before and had never seen anyone with a greater resistance response than Kenneth when being executed.
However, John Ham, a staff member of the Alabama prison system, insisted that everything was going as planned. Kenneth seemed to be holding his breath with all his might at first. There were indeed some struggles during the process, but they were some involuntary actions. Everything was expected. John said.
Kenneth’s execution process has also sparked some controversy. White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said on January 26 that the way Kenneth was executed “disturbed the White House”.
The UN Human Rights Office posted on the social media platform “X” on January 26 local time to condemn the execution of Kenneth. The office said it is now very concerned that the form of “nitrogen suffocation” might constitute torture and expressed regret over Kenneth’s execution in Alabama. It is learned that the office had called for the termination of this plan on the 16th of this month, claiming that it might constitute torture and violate the commitments of the United States in international law. In response to this, some netizens commented in the comment section: “If he doesn’t want to be executed, then he shouldn’t have killed someone before.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said at a news conference that he was very frustrated. He emphasized that the current focus of everyone’s attention is on whether the execution method against Kenneth is humane, “but we cannot ignore the victims he killed decades ago either.” Steve also introduced that at least 43 prisoners in the state have chosen to use nitrogen suffocation as a method of execution.
Chuck Sennett, the son of the victim, also believes that nowadays people are overly focused on the way the murderer is executed and ignore what happened to their mother. “He must pay the price for the murder.”
Post time: May-13-2025