A federal appeals court says Alabama can carry out the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen hypoxia. Alabama says it plans to replace the 58-year-old’s breathing air with nitrogen gas Thursday, rendering him unconscious within seconds and killing him within minutes. Critics say the execution method violates a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Smith is expected to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. He is one of two men convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife. The other was executed in 2010.
Alabama will be allowed to put an inmate to death with nitrogen gas, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, refusing to block what would be the nation’s.
Alabama will be allowed to put an inmate to death with nitrogen gas, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, refusing to block what would be the nation’s.
Alabama will be allowed to put an inmate to death with nitrogen gas, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, refusing to block what would be the nation’s.