Alabama on Thursday became the first state to execute a death row inmate using nitrogen gas. Kenneth Smith was put to death by nitrogen hypoxia at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., making his death the first in the U.S. to be carried out using the previously untested method. Smith was executed…
Kenneth Eugene Smith was shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.