Alabama pushes on with nitrogen hypoxia execution of death row killer Kenneth Eugene Smith despite expert’s warning about ‘agonizing’ gas that will cause him to thrash against gurney

Alabama is moving ahead with the nitrogen hypoxia execution of death row murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith despite experts’ fears it will be a slow, “painful” end to his life.

Smith will be executed tomorrow at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He is given a mask over his mouth and nose that pumps the deadly gas into him for 15 minutes.

In 1988, Smith and another man stabbed 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett to death in a brutal murder orchestrated by her pastor husband. He was paid $1,000 to carry out the murder.

It will be the first execution of its kind in the US and is the result of a failed previous attempt to execute Smith with lethal injections. Nurses couldn’t find an obvious vein to inject him with the fluid and had to give up before the execution order expired. An expert on assisted suicide fears Smith could die a very painful death.

Prosecutors said Smith and John Forrest Parker were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett for husband Charles Sennett Sr., who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect insurance premiums.

Smith and his team requested that nitrogen hypoxia be performed as an alternative and this was agreed to. Now he has asked for a stay of the execution, citing experts’ fears and UN efforts to call off the execution.

But Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says this is the treatment Smith deserves for the gruesome murder he committed 36 years ago.

Commenting on Smith’s Supreme Court request for a stay of execution, Marshall said: “Kenneth Smith will be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised.

‘Such treatment is far better than what Smith gave to Elizabeth Sennett almost thirty-six years ago. Smith and an accomplice tricked Elizabeth into letting them into her home, but stabbed her eight times in the chest and twice in the neck – all to make a quick buck.

Now Smith says his execution will be cruel and unusual because he was ‘stabbed’ with a needle to gain IV access during an earlier execution attempt 14 months ago.

The Alabama Lethal Injection Chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, is pictured in this Oct. 7, 2002 file photo. Kenneth Smith, 58, is scheduled to be executed on Jan. 25, 2024

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says the execution is milder than Smith deserves

“Smith’s application for residency should be denied,” he wrote.

The experimental method is so grim that the American Veterinary Medical Association ruled it too “disturbing” to use when euthanizing animals in 2000.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, an expert on assisted suicides who uses the gas in his ‘euthanasia capsules’, has also warned of how unpleasant it will be for Smith.

“I’m worried about Kenny, and I just don’t know which way things are going,” Nitschke told The New York Times.

He says that while nitrogen hypoxia is appropriate in chambers, the fact that Smith will be wearing a mask brings with it the possibility of oxygen leaking in, prolonging the procedure.

The Rev. Jeff Hood, Smith’s spiritual confidante, told the Times he expects him to hit the gurney.

‘This will not be a peaceful experiment. “I think it’s important for people to realize that if you tie someone up like that, you can’t expect someone who’s choking, choking, not to resist,” he said.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on Smith’s last-minute request for a stay.