Kenneth Eugene Smith
Kenneth Eugene Smith was executed by the State of Alabama on January 25, 2024, at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, the first time nitrogen gas was used in an execution in the United States. He had survived a failed lethal injection in November 2022, when staff could not establish the IV lines before the warrant expired. His wife, Deanna, and his spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeff Hood, were with him, and he was reported to have said he was leaving with love, peace and light. His lawyers argued that the untested method, and the post-traumatic stress disorder he said he had developed after the earlier attempt, put him at risk of prolonged suffering, and UN experts said the method could amount to torture. Witnesses reported that he shook and writhed for several minutes, which the state said were expected effects of the gas, and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. Alabama officials say the nitrogen gas execution went as planned, while his lawyers and UN experts objected to the untested method as risking prolonged suffering, and witnesses reported he shook and writhed for minutes.
Reported by: Alabama Department of Corrections (the agency that held him); execution witnesses; UN Special Rapporteurs.
Sources (21)
- Alabama
- Executions
- Alabama executes man by nitrogen gas for the first time in the U.S.
- The Alabama Execution Case: What We Know (Published 2024)
- Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Smith may already be dead by the time you read this.
- An Alabama inmate was executed with nitrogen gas. How does it work?
- What’s nitrogen hypoxia? Alabama carries out Kenneth Smith’s US execution
- Attorney General defends 'textbook' execution of death row prisoner despite backlash for 'inhumane' method
- Alabama uses experimental nitrogen gas method to kill death row inmate it already tried to execute in 2022
- Alabama death row killer Kenneth Smith executed by nitrogen gas after surviving injection
- Nitrogen hypoxia: Everything you need to know about controversial execution of Kenneth Smith in Alabama
- After Kelvin Moore died in an Alabama prison, his body was returned without organs. His family wants answers
- USA: Rights experts slam ‘outrageous’ execution of inmate by nitrogen gas suffocation
- Map Shows States That Have Executed Death Row Inmates in 2024
- What is nitrogen hypoxia? Alabama's Kenneth Smith execution proceeds with unprecedented, controversial method
- The Death Penalty in 2024: Executions
- Four inmates executed by Alabama had illegal drugs in their system, reports show
- All of the failed lethal injection executions in the last decade
- Failed executions troubled other states before Christa Pike. Here’s what happened
- Failed executions troubled other states before Christa Pike. Here's what happened
- Failed executions troubled other states before Christa Pike. Here’s what happened