Adopting the first method of its kind, Alabama executed a murder case convict by inhaling nitrogen gas, which is being discussed all over the world. With this, the debate regarding death penalty has erupted again in America. The state administration says this new method is humane, but critics have called it cruel and experimental. Officials said that 58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith was inhaled nitrogen gas through a ‘face mask’ on Thursday, due to which he died due to lack of oxygen in the body. Smith was declared dead at the Alabama jail at 8:25 pm.
When was the provision of giving death penalty by injection started?
In America, the provision of giving death penalty by lethal injection started after 1982 and since then this method is generally adopted for giving death penalty. This is the first case of death penalty by inhaling nitrogen in America. The state had also tried to give death penalty in 2022 to Smith, convicted in the 1988 case of murdering a man’s wife by taking betel nut from him, but at that time it was stopped at the last moment due to some technical problem.
Smith was executed by inhaling nitrogen.
After losing a legal battle against the new sentencing method, Smith was executed by inhaling nitrogen. Smith’s lawyers claimed that the state was using him as a test subject to experiment with a punishment method that would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual methods of punishment. The US Supreme Court rejected Smith’s petition on Thursday night.