CNN reported that the planned method involves using nitrogen gas, a novel approach criticized by some experts for its lack of transparency and potential for causing extreme pain or torture.
As reported by CNN, Smith, convicted for his role in a 1988 murder-for-hire case, had a previous lethal injection attempt abandoned by the state 14 months ago due to difficulties in setting up an intravenous line before the execution warrant expired. The execution is set to take place over 30 hours starting Thursday.
Last week, Kenneth Smith and his legal team requested the Supreme Court to temporarily halt the execution, contending that attempting to execute Smith for the second time would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth and 14th Amendments.
Also Read: Alabama Death-Row Inmate Fights Looming Use of New Execution Method
The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, rejected Smith’s plea without explaining in their brief order, and there were no recorded dissents among the justices.
Despite the Supreme Court’s decision, legal proceedings persist in anticipation of Kenneth Smith’s scheduled execution through nitrogen hypoxia, a method sanctioned by Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi but never employed. Among these states, only Alabama, which endorsed the method in 2018, has specified a protocol, suggesting that officials intend to administer nitrogen to Smith using a mask.
On Wednesday, attorneys representing Kenneth Smith submitted an additional and distinct plea to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals seeking a stay of execution. They argued that Alabama modified its execution arrangements by altering the schedule for Smith to partake in his final meal.
Also Read: End the death penalty: Its basis has collapsed
As reported by CNN, that change was made, the attorneys said, in response to evidence that Smith “has been vomiting repeatedly” — one of several concerns previously raised by Smith and the state’s critics, who fear Smith could vomit into the mask, causing him to choke and raising the risk of a tortuous death.
“While there is no doubt that a stay of execution is the exception and not the rule, it is difficult to imagine a more exceptional case than one in which a State intends to employ a novel protocol for a never-before-used method of execution, using a plan that continues to shift less than 48 hours before the execution is scheduled to begin,” the attorneys wrote.
In response, the state said the evidence Smith had been vomiting was largely from his own self-reporting. The Department of Corrections, the state said, only altered the last meal schedule to alleviate Smith’s concerns. The state urged the court to deny the request for a stay, saying Smith’s “recent delays and latest filing make a mockery of the judicial process.”
During the November 2022 attempt to execute him, officials “jabbed Smith repeatedly in his arms and hands” to access his veins, causing the inmate “severe physical pain and psychological torment, including post-traumatic stress disorder,” his lawyers wrote in their appeal to the Supreme Court.
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CNN reported, If carried out, Smith’s execution would signify just the second instance in US history where a state endeavors to execute an inmate for the second time after an initial failed attempt, according to his legal representatives. The state contested Smith’s appeal, emphasizing in a filing with the Supreme Court this week that they intend to employ a different method this time, specifically describing nitrogen hypoxia as “perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised.”
“Such treatment is much better than Smith gave Elizabeth Sennett nearly thirty-six years ago,” Alabama wrote, referring to the victim in the 1988 case.
CNN further reported that United Nations experts, however, have “expressed alarm” over Smith’s looming execution, saying this month in a news release, “We are concerned that nitrogen hypoxia would result in a painful and humiliating death.”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Alabama to halt the execution, saying it “could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.”
“It’s not that nitrogen gas won’t kill you,” Dr. Joel Zivot, an associate professor of anesthesiology and surgery at Emory University, told CNN.
“But will it kill you in a way that would comport with the constitutional requirement that it not be cruel and it not be torture?” Kenneth Smith received a death sentence for his involvement in the 1988 murder-for-hire of a woman named Sennett.
According to court records, Charles Sennett, the victim’s husband and a minister, orchestrated the crime by hiring someone who, in turn, recruited two others, including Smith. The motive was to kill his wife and stage it as a burglary, with each participant allegedly promised $1,000 for their roles in the crime, CNN reported.
According to court documents, Sennett, who was reportedly having an affair and had obtained an insurance policy on his wife, committed suicide a week after her murder when investigators began to scrutinize him. Kenneth Smith was later apprehended after a search of his residence revealed the Sennetts’ VCR, which he had taken during the commission of the murder.
(With inputs from CNN)
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Published: 25 Jan 2024, 07:29 AM IST