A murderer was put to death in Alabama overnight with a previously unused and untested method, in what witnesses described as a horrifying 22-minute ordeal.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was paid $1,000 to kill an Alabama woman, 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett, more than 30 years ago and was sentenced to death for the crime. He has been on death row ever since.
The state had previously attempted to execute Smith in 2022, but the lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn’t connect an IV line.
On Thursday night, the state tried again to put him to death, this time successfully using ‘nitrogen hypoxia’ – suffocation by administering gas through a mask.
It marked the first time a new execution method was used in the US since 1982, when lethal injection was introduced and later became the most common method.
Alabama had predicted the nitrogen gas would cause unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes.
However, those who watched the execution at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama have said it was anything but simple.
Witnesses said Smith appeared to shake and convulse at the start, pulled against his restraints, and breathed for up to ten minutes before finally falling unconscious.
While executions are never filmed in the US, it is possible to piece together the events from witnesses testimony given by those who watched the scene unfold in the immediate aftermath of Smith’s death.
Hellbound and Down 