Supreme Court allows Alabama to carry out first-ever execution by nitrogen gas of death row inmate Kenneth Smith

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-allows-alabama-execution-
nitrogen-kenneth-smith/

U.S.
Supreme Court allows Alabama to carry out first-ever execution by nitrogen
gas of death row inmate Kenneth Smith
By Stephen Smith, Emily Mae Czachor

Updated on: January 24, 2024 / 5:25 PM EST / CBS News

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stop Alabama from executing an
inmate by nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial and untested method that has
prompted legal pushback and a rebuke from the United Nations. Kenneth
Eugene Smith is scheduled to be the first person in the United States to
be put to death with nitrogen gas.

The justices rejected arguments by Smith's lawyers that it would be
unconstitutional for the state to attempt a second execution after a
failed lethal injection in 2022.

Smith also has asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the
execution. That court has not yet issued its ruling. His execution is
currently scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 25.

The use of nitrogen gas will be a capital punishment first, even though it
has not only been denounced by some medical professionals but also by
veterinarians who oppose its use on animals. In 2020, the American
Veterinary Medical Association advised against the use of nitrogen gas as
a way to euthanize most mammals, calling it "distressing." One of the few
uses of nitrogen gas in animal euthanasia is with chickens.

Experts have repeatedly warned that nitrogen toxicity may cause the
condemned person to suffer unnecessarily, while at the same time
threatening the health of others in the room.

What is nitrogen hypoxia?
Nitrogen hypoxia is a process where pure nitrogen gas —or nitrogen gas at
concentrations high enough to be lethal— is inhaled to the point of
causing asphyxiation. It is a new alternative to more common forms of
capital punishment, like lethal injection and electrocution, which are the
two methods used most prevalently across the U.S., according to the Death
Penalty Information Center.

The nonprofit organization noted that "lethal gas" is authorized broadly
as an execution method in seven states, including Alabama, Mississippi and
Oklahoma, although only those three have specified the use of nitrogen for
this purpose, and only Alabama has released a formal execution protocol
for nitrogen hypoxia. The protocol was issued last August, and the version
made available to the public is heavily redacted.

Breathing nitrogen through a mask could in theory cause a person to lose
consciousness before oxygen deprivation leads to death, and Alabama
officials have insisted that this is most likely how the scheduled
execution will happen.

But Smith's legal team, while seeking an injunction to halt the execution
plans that was ultimately rejected, accused the state of using him as a
"test subject" for a lethal experiment. The United Nations' human rights
office called on Alabama to stop the execution, noting there is "no
scientific evidence to prove" that execution by nitrogen inhalation will
not cause "grave suffering."

What do we know about inhaling nitrogen gas?
During the execution, officials said Smith will be strapped to a gurney
and forced to breathe nitrogen through a gas mask until his body is
depleted entirely of oxygen and shuts down. Although it has never been
used before inside the death chamber, the consequences of too much
nitrogen inhalation — usually accidentally in industrial settings — are
well-documented.

Nitrogen exists organically in the atmosphere, and actually composes
around 75% of the air that humans and animals breathe every day. But the
colorless and odorless gas is only safe to inhale when it is mixed with an
appropriate concentration of oxygen; otherwise, breathing it in is toxic.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board issued a series of bulletins in the early
2000s that reviewed cases of nitrogen asphyxiation over the previous
decade. In one bulletin that references information from the Compressed
Gas Association, the board notes that when enough nitrogen is introduced
to deplete oxygen in the air to less than 10%, effects on the human body
can be lethal, potentially causing "inability to move, loss of
consciousness, convulsions" and death.


--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.