Death Row killer to be executed 'like animal with method rejected by vets'

25 January 2024 , 14:45

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Kenneth Smith is scheduled to be put to death today with an untested and very controversial execution method (Image: No credit)

A Death Row prisoner is set to be executed today using a controversial and untested method that has sparked grave warnings from experts and human rights advocates.

The execution method to be used on Kenneth Smith, a death row prisoner in Alabama, involves administering nitrogen gas through a face mask, a technique labelled as "cruel" and even rejected by vets for use on animals.

Maya Foa, the Joint Executive Director of the non-profit organisation Reprieve, told The Mirror with just hours left until the planned execution: "Once again, Alabama is seeking to hide the reality of what goes on in the execution chamber, switching methods to avoid having to answer questions about what went wrong last time, and now proposes to use a method that has been rejected by veterinarians as a way to kill animals."

The American Veterinary Medical Association stated in their 2020 euthanasia guidelines that nitrogen hypoxia is not an acceptable euthanasia method for most mammals because it causes distress. Maya Foa claimed that this execution method is so cruel that observers behind the glass in the death chamber won't even realise the torture Smith, aged 58, will endure.

READ MORE: What did Kenneth Smith do? Death row con who murdered Elizabeth Sennet faces execution

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People watching the procedure from behind the glass in the death chamber 'will not even realise the torture Smith will be subjected to' (AFP via Getty Images)

She said: "Witnesses will not be able to tell how much Kenneth Smith is suffering as the nitrogen kills him: like the lethal injection protocol before it, the nitrogen protocol is specifically designed to hide pain."

Alabama plans to put an industrial-type respirator mask over Smith's face and replace his breathing air with pure nitrogen gas, causing him to die from lack of oxygen. This will be the first attempt to use a new execution method since the 1982 introduction of lethal injection, now the most common execution method in the US.

But advocates including Foa say there is no compassionate way to kill someone. "Despite almost fifty years of horrific scenes in the execution chamber as prisoners suffer agonising deaths, proponents of capital punishment cling to the lie that it can be carried out humanely," Foa said.

She also stated: "Execution with nitrogen gas is the latest effort to obscure the violence of the state taking a human life. States first tried to hide the brutality of executions by using drugs and pretending they were medical; Kenneth Smith's aborted execution shows just how far that practice is from a medical procedure."

"The state of Alabama has tortured Mr Smith once, stabbing him with needles for hours, and by using him as a guinea pig for a dangerous, untested new method of execution, it is torturing him again."

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Kenneth Eugene Smith survived the first attempt to execute him in November 2022 (BBC /ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS)

The 2022 'torture' of Kenneth Smith

Smith went through a harrowing four-hour ordeal on November 17, 2022, as state prosecutors tried to proceed with his execution despite a federal appeals court stay and numerous failures in setting up the lethal injection. The details of this botched execution attempt were revealed in pleadings filed by Smith's lawyers.

Smith's complaint outlined the events that unfolded that night, starting with his abrupt preparation for execution after a stay motion was pending before the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Although the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay just two minutes later, Smith remained strapped to the execution gurney for about four hours, during which he was not informed of the stay or permitted to communicate with his counsel.

The execution team then adjusted the gurney to place Smith into an inverted crucifixion position, then left the room for several minutes. Upon their return, they injected Smith with an unknown substance, which Smith's counsel believe to be "some sort of sedative and/or anaesthetic ." Smith "specifically objected to this injection," the complaint says, as the State "had been ordered not to use 'intramuscular sedation' during his execution."

Smith's was convicted in the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Sennett (Find a Grave)

Kenneth Eugene Smith will be the first inmate executed with nitrogen gas (Alabama Department of Corrections)

Who is Kenneth Smith?

Kenneth Smith, a 58-year-old man, was one of two men found guilty in the 1998 murder-for-hire killing of Elizabeth Sennett. Prosecutors say he and another man were each paid £1,000 to kill Sennett by her pastor husband, who was heavily in debt and wanted to collect on her life insurance.

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Elizabeth Sennett, 45, was discovered dead on March 18, 1988, in her home in Colbert County with eight stab wounds in the chest and one on each side of her neck, according to the coroner. Her husband, Charles Sennett Sr., took his own life when the investigation turned towards him as a suspect, court documents reveal. John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the murder, was executed in 2010.

Smith confessed during the trial that he had agreed to harm Elizabeth but denied planning to kill her. His 1989 conviction was overturned, but he was found guilty again in 1996. The jury suggested a life sentence by an 11-1 vote, but the judge overruled this and sentenced Smith to death. It's worth noting that Alabama no longer permits a judge to override a jury's decision on the death penalty.

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]

Vassia Barba