The Metro reports that several experts have spoken out against the use of nitrogen gas as a form of execution after Kenneth Smith became the first person to be put to death using this method.
Witnesses say it took Kenneth 22 minutes to die.
“We have been here before with lethal injection, which was touted as a “humane” method of execution from the start and has proved to be anything but,” Reprieve’s joint executive director Maya Foa told The Metro.
“What we saw last night in Alabama was the state violently taking a human life.
Kenneth Smith died strapped to a stretcher, terrified and desperately fighting for breath. He had already suffered the trauma of one failed execution attempt. This was torture for him.
Autopsies show that prisoners lungs often fill with fluid, so they feel like they are drowning or being waterboarded. But this suffering is hidden: the whole purpose of these methods of execution is to mask pain.
We don’t yet know what internal damage forcefully starving the human body of oxygen does because so far only Alabama has been cruel and reckless enough to try this grotesque experiment.
Alabama is predictably claiming that this dangerous experimental method is now “proven”. Executing states are constantly looking for ways to pretend that executions are medical and modern, not brutal and violent.
They said lethal injection was humane – that was a lie. They’re claiming this execution was humane, and that is a lie, too.”
