Alabama will execute a man using a method veterinarians deem too cruel to euthanize pets
Alabama treats people worse than dogs
In October 2019, a US Special Operations raid killed the head of the Islamic State terrorist organization, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Then-President Trump gleefully announced al-Baghdadi had “died like a dog.” It was a simile deliberately used to diminish and demean the dead man. In 2024, an inmate on Alabama’s death row will also die — but not like a dog. His death will be worse.
In January, if all goes according to plan, Kenneth Eugene Smith will expire in a manner that the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recommends it not be used to euthanize pets. The state will gas him with pure nitrogen, depriving him of oxygen and causing death by asphyxiation.
The AVMA arrived at its position when studies revealed that after being forced to breathe nitrogen or argon, “male Sprague-Dawley rats showed open mouthed breathing and seizure-like behavior prior to loss of consciousness, suggesting similar potential for distress.” The report continued, “These observations are not surprising, as gradual displacement methods using N2 or Ar, alone or mixed with other gases, are predicted by the wash-in and wash-out functions to result in prolonged exposure to hypoxic conditions.” In plain language, the rats took time to die while in mental agony.
If the state wants execution to be torture, they should just admit it
Assuming that Alabama’s criminal justice system has done its job fairly — an iffy proposition, I will grant you — Smith deserves to suffer the consequences of his actions. In 1996, he was sentenced to death after admitting to the murder-for-hire killing of a pastor's wife who was beaten and stabbed in 1988. And as far as I know, he is not claiming he is innocent today.
I will also grant that, regardless of my feeling that capital punishment is expensive, counter-productive, and immoral sadism, Smith should have been aware that his actions could lead to his execution. However, if a state is going to kill its citizens, it should do so humanely. Or it should just admit that torture is the name of the game. And hang, draw, and quarter murderers — or allow crucifixion.
It is not Smith’s first time
In a barbarous twist, the only reason that Smith faces this untested method of retribution is the state’s inability to kill him the first time. They had tried before despite a stay issued by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. For two hours, starting at 8 pm on Nov 18, 2022, Smith was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber while the Supreme Court reviewed the stay. No one told him his execution was on hold.
At 10 pm, the death squad tried setting the IVs to deliver the execution cocktail. Around the same time, the Supreme Court lifted the Eleventh Circuit’s stay. Repeated attempts by an unidentified man, whose medical training is unknown, to stick a needle into Smith’s bloodstream failed. Smith later described the pain as sharp and intense, “as though he were being ‘stabbed’ in the chest” while the individual “repeatedly jabbed him … underneath his collarbone.”
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Smith or his lawyers, the state had decided to call off his execution. Officials ignored attempts by the lawyers to discover the truth. Smith was left strapped down until midnight. When finally released, he was trembling, sweating, hyperventilating, dizzy, and could not lift his arms to be handcuffed or walk unassisted.
It was not the state’s first failure
Smith’s experience was eerily foreshadowed by Alabama's attempted execution of Alan Eugene Miller. His execution was scheduled for 6 pm on Sept 19, 2022. However, the same US Appeals Court had put a stay on the procedure. At 9 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution to begin — giving Alabama three hours to get it done before the death warrant expired. But the state called it off at 11:30 p.m., citing issues accessing Miller’s veins.
Miller also faces a new execution by nitrogen hypoxia.
Before that, in 2018, the state attempted to execute Doyle Lee Hamm. After failing for 2½ hours to set an intravenous line, the state eventually called off that execution. Hamm got ‘lucky.’ He died of cancer in 2021.
The Governor has enough — just kidding
Five days after Alabama botched Smith’s death, Governor Kay Ivey halted executions and ordered a “top-to-bottom review” of the state’s execution procedures. AL AG Steve Marshall quickly insisted this review was a temporary inconvenience. And the state would soon be back in the homicide business.
During a Dec 5, 2022, press conference, the AG spanked Ivey for encroaching on his territory.
“I stand before you today to be very clear that, so far as I and my office are concerned, there is no moratorium nor will there be on capital punishment in Alabama. And I will tell you that that characterization came as a great surprise to me. Because there’s only two parties involved in setting an execution in Alabama. That’s me as attorney general and our Alabama Supreme Court.”
In February 2023, after her brief experiment with basic humanity, Ivey recovered herself. Catering to the blood lust of the Bible Belt’s good Christians, she announced that Alabama would restart killing people.
In a letter, Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm assured her that his staff was ready to resume executions. He claimed the prison system had added medical professionals, ordered new equipment, and conducted rehearsals. Hamm also noted changes that will give the execution team more time to complete its duties.
However, critics pointed out that having Hamm evaluate execution protocols was like allowing students to grade their own exams. They sensibly suggested that a disinterested group should have conducted the review. Not the state agency “responsible for botching multiple executions.”
But they chose it
Supporters of the death penalty might point out that both Smith and Miller chose nitrogen hypoxia as their ‘preferred’ method of execution after the state screw-ups. Nice try. If you have been hit in the head with a baseball bat, getting kicked in the groin might seem like a better option. Especially if you have never been kicked in the groin before.
However, neither Smith nor Miller are medical professionals or biochemists. People who have studied hypoxia deaths know the effects.
Closing question
Can someone explain why life imprisonment in a concrete box, without the possibility of parole, is insufficient punishment for a murderer?