What is nitrogen hypoxia? Alabama's untested execution method could be dangerous for everyone in the room

[Judi Lynn]

Kenneth Eugene Smith is scheduled to become the first death row inmate to be executed with nitrogen. His pastor says the untested procedure is a cruel violation of religious liberties, Bevan Hurley reports

19 hours ago


On 25 January, Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) officials will strap Kenneth Eugene Smith to a gurney in Holman Correctional Facility and pump his lungs full of pure nitrogen.

Having survived one horribly botched execution, Smith faces being put to death by a wholly untested method that has been decried as inhumane by death penalty experts and deemed unfit even for killing most mammals.

So experimental is “nitrogen asphyxia” as a form of capital punishment that ADOC has required Smith’s spiritual adviser Reverend Jeff Hood to sign a waiver that forces him to maintain a distance of at least three feet (.9m) during the execution.

The legal document states that it would be possible, though “highly unlikely”, that a hose supplying nitrogen to Smith's mask detaches from his face, filling an area around him with the potentially deadly odourless, tasteless, invisible gas.

“They’re asking for my trust,” Dr Hood told The Independent in an interview. “The problem is they have a history of being untrustworthy.”

More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/alabama-execution-nitrogen-gas-hypoxia-b2484087.html

[mike_c]

1. that's a bit of a stretch

Nitrogen is not toxic. Seventy percent of the atmosphere is nitrogen. It is the majority of every breath we take.

[limbicnuminousity]

2. I have no issue with arguing against capital punishment.

Nitrogen asphyxiation isn't the problem.