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NationalClimate Education Health Innovations Investigations National Security
Obituaries Science



ALABAMA PUTS KENNETH SMITH TO DEATH IN FIRST EXECUTION WITH NITROGEN GAS


KENNETH EUGENE SMITH BECAME THE FIRST PRISONER KNOWN TO BE EXECUTED USING A
CONTROVERSIAL METHOD KNOWN AS NITROGEN HYPOXIA

By Kim Bellware
and 
Ann E. Marimow
Updated January 25, 2024 at 10:38 p.m. EST|Published January 25, 2024 at 9:36
p.m. EST
Alabama carries out first known nitrogen gas execution
2:44

Alabama executed Kenneth Smith on Jan. 25 using a controversial method of
nitrogen hypoxia. The family of his victim, Elizabeth Sennett, attended the
execution. (Video: Reuters)

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ATMORE, Ala. — Alabama carried out the world’s first known execution by nitrogen
hypoxia Thursday. The unprecedented method was administered to Kenneth Eugene
Smith, a prisoner on death row for his role in a contract killing more than
three decades ago.


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Smith’s execution was preceded by months of legal battles over whether it was
constitutional to use nitrogen hypoxia in capital punishment, as the method was
not known to have ever been used before in a prison setting. Alabama prison
officials kept many of the details about how they would carry out the new method
a secret from the public.


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