Kenneth Eugene Smith: Alabama carries out first nitrogen gas execution - BBC News

The untested method was approved after lethal injection drugs became more difficult to obtain.

4 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Alabama Department of CorrectionsImage caption, Kenneth Eugene Smith in a more recent photoAlabama has executed convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas, the first time the method of capital punishment has been used globally.

A witness told the BBC that Smith thrashed violently on the gurney and the execution took around 25 minutes.

The UN condemned it on Friday as cruel but Alabama said the process had been carried out humanely.

Smith was convicted in 1989 of murdering a preacher's wife, Elizabeth Sennett, in a killing-for-hire.

In his final words, the 58-year-old said his death would mean Alabama had taken humanity "a step backwards".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68085513?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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