The American legal system allows executions with nitrogen. Peasant protests with tensile columns also in Lithuania

The US judiciary has approved the planned execution of a criminal in the state of Alabama with nitrogen. Kenneth Eugene Smith, sentenced to death for a 1988 murder-for-hire plot, failed Wednesday in both the U.S. Supreme Court and an appeals court attempt to halt the execution. The 58-year-old is expected to die on Friday evening German time as a result of so-called nitrogen hypoxia. In this type of performance, nitrogen is administered through a face mask – the result is death from lack of oxygen. A death sentence has never been carried out in this way in the US.

Smith’s lawyers had argued that the convicted man was becoming something of a test candidate for a new execution method and that far too many questions remained unanswered. However, the appeal court rejected the reservations on Wednesday evening (local time). Smith failed to prove that the use of nitrogen hypoxia as a new and novel method constituted “cruel and unusual” punishment, the ruling said. Shortly before, the Supreme Court had also rejected a similar request, but did not give any reason for this.

In recent days, demonstrators had called on Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to halt the execution. However, it is unlikely that they will be successful with their request. Human rights experts from the United Nations and Amnesty International warn of a potentially gruesome death. There is therefore no scientific evidence that breathing in pure nitrogen does not cause serious suffering.

Smith was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 2022. However, prison staff were unable to place the necessary cannula in his arm. He was returned to his cell after spending several hours strapped to the execution table.

Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 for a murder-for-hire committed eight years earlier. After appeal, the jury had effectively given him a life sentence, but the judge responsible ignored this advice. The law that allowed him to do this no longer exists since 2017. (sda/dpa)