the commissioner of alabama s department of corrections, john hamm, gave details of the execution at a news conference. at 7:53 central time tonight, alabama started carrying out the execution by nitrogen oxide by. smith was executed by the i988 by. smith was executed by the 1988 capital murder of elizabeth sennet in culver county. police confer with many witnesses for smith s last words. he was pronounced dismissed at 8:25pm central standard time. that was the commissioner of alabama s corrections, jon hamm, speaking. after the execution, a number of witnesses addressed the media and described what happened. once execution began, within a of minutes kenny began to violently push against the straps. he said began to move back and forth violently. this was the fifth execution i ve witnessed in alabama and i have never seen such a violent reaction to an execution. charles sennett, whose mother elizabeth was murdered by kenneth smith, also gave his reaction to the execution. not