ATMORE, Ala. — As witnesses, including five journalists, watched through a window, Kenneth Eugene Smith, sentenced to death in 1988 for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett, convulsed on a stretcher as Alabama carried out the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas.
Critics who worried the new execution method would be cruel and experimental said Smith’s final moments Thursday night proved them right. However, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Friday characterized the execution as a “textbook” execution.
Here’s an eyewitness account of how it unfolded. Times, unless otherwise noted, are according to a clock on the wall of the execution chamber of the William C. Holman Correctional Facility.
MASK CONTROL
The curtains between the viewing room and the execution chamber opened at 7:53 p.m. Smith, dressed in a tan prison uniform, was already strapped to the gurney and draped in a white sheet.
A blue-rimmed breathing mask covered his face from forehead to chin. It had a clear face shield and plastic tubing that appeared to connect through an opening to the adjacent control room.
LAST WORDS
The prison warden entered the room, read the death warrant stating his execution date and held a microphone so Smith could say any final words.
“Tonight, Alabama is making humanity take a step back,” Smith began. He moved his fingers to form an “I love you” sign for the family members who were also present. ‘I leave with love, peace and light. . Love you all.”
The Sennett family watched from a viewing room separate from the one where members of the media and Smith’s attorney sat.
THE EXECUTION IS GREEN LIGHT
Marshall, the attorney general, authorized prison officials to begin the execution at 7:56 p.m. That was final confirmation from his office that there was no court order preventing its execution.
A corrections officer in the room approached Smith and checked the side of the mask.
The Rev. Jeff Hood, Smith’s spiritual adviser, took a few steps toward Smith, touched him on the leg and they appeared to pray.
The Department of Corrections had asked Hood to sign a waiver agreeing to keep 3 feet (0.9 meters) away from Smith’s gas mask in case the hose supplying the nitrogen became disconnected.
RAPID AND SHOCKING BREATHS
Smith began shaking and writhing violently, with jerking spasms and seizure-like movements, around 7:58 p.m. The force of his movements caused the stretcher to visibly move at least once. Smith’s arms pulled against the straps holding him to the stretcher. He lifted his head off the stretcher and then fell backwards.
The shaking lasted at least two minutes. Hood repeatedly made the sign of the cross toward Smith. Smith’s wife, who was watching, cried out.
Smith began to take a series of deep, gasping breaths, his chest noticeably rising. His breathing was no longer visible around 8:08 p.m. The corrections officer who had previously checked the mask walked over to Smith and looked at him.
THE EXECUTION ENDS
The curtains in the viewing room were closed around 8:15 p.m
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm told reporters afterward that the nitrogen gas flowed for about 15 minutes. The attorney general’s office declined Friday to discuss at what time the nitrogen gas began flowing, or at what time a monitor connected to Smith during the execution showed his heart had stopped beating.
State officials said Smith was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m
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Chandler was one of five media witnesses to Smith’s execution by nitrogen hypoxia. She has documented about 15 executions in Alabama over the past two decades, including the state’s first lethal injection.