Controversial Execution Sparks Debate

ATMORE, A.L. – For the first time ever, an inmate in the United States has been put to death using nitrogen gas.

58-year-old Kenneth Smith, convicted of killing Elizabeth Sennett in a murder-for-hire plot 36 years ago, was put to death Thursday night. 

Alabama becomes the first state in the country to use this method to execute an inmate.

There was a major outcry when South Carolina implemented the firing squad two years ago. Now, there are many who believe this new method is even more inhumane.

“A lot of these executions are supposed to be humane, but they aren’t because doctors are not allowed to be involved in it because it’s against their oath,” Trial Attorney Karen Conti said. “Only 40% of people believe that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment, the lowest in history, and yet we’re still executing people.”

Attorney General Steve Marshall commended the Alabama Department of Corrections’ actions while critics called the use of nitrogen gas “barbaric.”

Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma have approved nitrogen hypoxia as a means of execution.

Could the Carolinas be next? Leaders in South Carolina say no. 

The general assembly has already passed laws authorizing only three methods of execution. They are lethal injection, the electric chair and firing squad. 

The last execution in South Carolina was 2011 by lethal injection. In North Carolina, no one has been put to death in 18 years.