Alabama Uses Nitrogen Gas To Execute Convict, A First In U.S.

Alabama executed a man using nitrogen gas, becoming the first state in the US to use the previously untested method, The New York Times reported.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, appeared to shake and convulse at the start before being pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. Thursday at an Alabama prison after breathing the gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation. I Photo: John Rushing Flickr

The condemned prisoner, Kenneth Smith, 58, was one of three men convicted in the 1988 murder of a woman whose husband, a pastor, had recruited them to kill her.

The Supreme Court allowed the execution to move forward over the objections of its three liberal justices and concerns from death penalty opponents.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, appeared to shake and convulse at the start before being pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. Thursday at an Alabama prison after breathing the gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation.

It marked the first time a new execution method was used in the US since 1982 when lethal injection was introduced and later became the most common method, Kim Chandler reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The execution took about 22 minutes from the time between the opening and closing of the curtains to the viewing room.

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