The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday against an Alabama inmate’s eleventh-hour request to halt his execution by nitrogen hypoxia, the first time the method would be used, calling it cruel and unusual punishment.  

Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted of stabbing a woman to death in 1988 in a murder-for-hire scheme, will be executed Thursday at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, reportedly the only prison in the state to have an execution chamber. Smith survived the traditional lethal injection procedure in November 2022. 

Smith tried to stop Thursday’s execution, pleading to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that the method to be used on him was in violation of his due process rights. 

An Amnesty International researcher, Justin Mazzola, called on Gov. Kay Ivey (R-AL) to halt Smith’s execution, AL.com reported.  

“This new untested method could be extremely painful, result in a botched execution, and could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, thereby violating international human rights treaties that the U.S. has ratified. It is high time the death penalty was abolished,” Mazzola said. 

Earlier this month, the United Nations accused Alabama of violating international law after asking the state to stop his execution, Reuters reported. Smith’s spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeff Hood, who will accompany him into the execution chamber, told the New York Times he was afraid for Smith’s safety and expected his last moments to be painful.   

“This is not going to be a peaceful experiment. I think it’s important for people to realize, when you strap someone down like that, you can’t expect someone who’s choking to death — suffocating to death — to not resist,” he said.

However, some state officials argued that the procedure was actually more humane than other forms of execution, such as lethal injection and firing squad. 

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“Kenneth Smith is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall wrote in a court filing. 

Nitrogen hypoxia is the first-of-its-kind execution method. A colorless, odorless gas, nitrogen, without proper levels of oxygen, can be deadly when inhaled, causing a person to become unconscious.
According to the execution protocol, Smith will be strapped to a gurney with a mask placed over his face, and a tube will feed the nitrogen gas into the mask for up to 15 minutes, causing Smith to suffocate.