Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Alabama cleared to become first state to execute inmate with nitrogen gas: court
Fox News ^ | 11/02/23 | Pilar Arias

Posted on 11/02/2023 4:33:26 PM PDT by Libloather

Alabama's Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the state to execute an inmate using nitrogen gas.

The state's attorney general’s request for an execution warrant for Kenneth Eugene Smith was granted in a 6-2 decision by an all-Republican court.

Last year, the Alabama Department of Corrections called off the execution of Smith when the people responsible for connecting two intravenous lines to him for lethal injection could not do so.

While the ruling moves the state closer to becoming the first to attempt execution with nitrogen gas, there is likely to be additional legal dispute on the matter. Alabama joins Oklahoma and Mississippi with authorization to use nitrogen hypoxia as a form of execution, although no state has yet attempted to use it.

Smith was one of two men convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett in Alabama's Colbert County.

"Elizabeth Sennett's family has waited an unconscionable 35 years to see justice served. Today, the Alabama Supreme Court cleared the way for Kenneth Eugene Smith to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia," Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall wrote. "Though the wait has been far too long, I am grateful that our capital litigators have nearly gotten this case to the finish line."

Smith's legal team had urged the court to reject the execution request. They also previously accused the state of trying to move Smith to "the front of the line" for a nitrogen execution in order to moot Smith’s lawsuit challenging lethal injection procedures.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; History; Local News
KEYWORDS: 1988; alabama; elizabethsennett; execute; execution; gas; kennetheugenesmith; lethalinjection; murder; murderer; nitrogen; nitrogenhypoxia; useful
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last
To: diverteach

“Nitrogen doesn’t expand and contract like air does with changes in temperature which means the tire pressure doesn’t change with the temperature”

Wrong!

Nitrogen is a gas and obeys Gay-Lussac’s law.


41 posted on 11/02/2023 6:26:48 PM PDT by TexasGator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

One of the problems is that governors and judges love to wait until the last minute to delay or cancel an execution and defense attorneys love to take advantage of this by presenting piles of “evidence” at the last second. Those authorities hate being told “the execution has started and you either can’t stop it or if you do the criminal will be permanently brain damaged”. This means that methods like barbiturate overdone used to put down pets just isn’t viable for execution. You have to minimize the amount of time between healthy and dead. The current lethal injection is typically three drugs given in order. It can be stopped until the last drug causing a heart attack is given. The guillotine is probably ideal for this, there is no gap for a half finished job. Nitrogen narcosis has quite a long brain damaged time


42 posted on 11/02/2023 6:27:04 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Democrats' version of MAGA: Making America the Gulag Archipelago. Now with "Formal Deprogramming")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fungi
"That can be done with any gas. Just exclude oxygen and any gas will work."

Not quite.

They could use helium or nitrogen because they're largely inert and non-toxic. All they do is displace the gas in your lungs and don't otherwise interact with any tissues. They displace the oxygen, which will cause you to lose consciousness and die, but they also displace the carbon dioxide, which is what triggers the urge to breathe and makes the whole experience unpleasant.

Without the CO2 build-up it isn't unpleasant. If you've ever took a lung full of helium from a kid's balloon and held it in too long, you know the truth of that.

But chlorine, bromine, fluorine and iodine also all are gasses, and also are toxic. With any of them you'd start having an unpleasant reaction immediately when the goal is that you drift off to sleep without any discomfort.

And if you're going to do that, why bother giving up cyanide gas?

43 posted on 11/02/2023 6:49:15 PM PDT by threefinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: threefinger

Missed the entire point. Much adoo about nothing.


44 posted on 11/02/2023 6:51:42 PM PDT by Fungi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Rightwing Conspiratr1

Global warming....


45 posted on 11/02/2023 7:09:20 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: diverteach

That just is not true. Nitrogen is a gas. It behaves the same way as any other gas with respect to thermal expansion and pressure changes due to temperature and volume changes. The ideal gas law works for nitrogen every bit as well as for air, oxygen, helium or any of a number of other gases


46 posted on 11/02/2023 7:37:24 PM PDT by stremba
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: fruser1

“And forget that “only one gun with a real bullet so they don’t know who did it” crap.”

I’ve yet to see a film of an execution that didn’t show evidence of multiple bullets fired into the executee. And I’ve seen some where an officer walks up after the firing and adds a coup de gras.


47 posted on 11/02/2023 7:38:13 PM PDT by SaxxonWoods (Successful People Have a Sense of Gratitude. Unsuccessful People Have a Sense of Entitlement)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

That’s how we kill the chickens before they get shot in the gun. Put them in a wastebasket upside down, held by the feet. Run a nitrogen tank line for about two minutes to make sure. The chickens don’t fuss, and go out quietly.


48 posted on 11/02/2023 7:38:19 PM PDT by Rinnwald
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: super7man

I have read that also, and it makes more sense.


49 posted on 11/02/2023 7:38:54 PM PDT by SaxxonWoods (Successful People Have a Sense of Gratitude. Unsuccessful People Have a Sense of Entitlement)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

It should not matter, most rims made of corrosive resistant material or coating and not prone to oxidation damage. Little leaks out of the rim can start corrosive spots as the outer rim is exposed to the elements and gets dinged and scratched. Those spots can start corrosion though whether you have pure nitrogen air or regular air in the tires bucause it’s exposed to the air and rain. I think it’s just a way to try and charge extra. Regular air 78% nitrogen 16 % oxygen and the rest is mostly inert gas, except of course the evil 0.04% carbon dioxide.


50 posted on 11/02/2023 7:43:02 PM PDT by EERinOK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Ciaphas Cain

Or hydrogen with little oxygen, and last cigarette


51 posted on 11/02/2023 7:45:17 PM PDT by EERinOK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Highly overrated for all the reasons it is recommended. It’s a money marker for car dealers.

If you have a fetish about maintaining the air pressure in your tires to the Nth degree all you need to do is get a $35 compressor and check your tires a couple of times a month.

I check my motorcycle tires several times a week, the cars? Maybe once a month.


52 posted on 11/02/2023 8:46:06 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s ( If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Nitrogen hypoxia is without a doubt, THE most ‘humane’ way to kill someone. That it is even being discussed as a possibility that they can’t use it just tells you these people are just flat opposed to execution, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the manner it is carried out.

There are tons of OSHA regs in place if you’re in a place that can experience excessive concentrations of Nitrogen, because it kills you silently. You don’t even know you’ve died. One minute, you’re walking across a room and the next you are either talking to St. Peter or one of satan’s minions.


53 posted on 11/02/2023 8:53:02 PM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rightwing Conspiratr1
What’s the advantage of N over CO in executions?

Every breath you take is 78% Nitrogen. It doesn't trigger a choking response in the body. That's why places that use a lot of N2 for industrial processes have all kinds of regulations surrounding it you die without ever knowing you were dying. It is absolutely perfect and is what should have been used all along.

54 posted on 11/02/2023 8:57:21 PM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: diverteach
Nitrogen doesn’t expand and contract like air does with changes in temperature which means the tire pressure doesn’t change with the temperature

I'd say that would contradict Boyle's law, wouldn't it?

55 posted on 11/02/2023 9:00:09 PM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

I still don’t know why we can’t just use street drugs. Give a criminal 10-20 days of unlimited drugs with the understanding that at some point they will receive a pure or low cut and no life support will be provided. I suspect many would take the deal and kill them selfs on the cut drugs. Win win. Volunteers only.


56 posted on 11/02/2023 9:17:25 PM PDT by wgmalabama (Censored )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

I wish they would go green and make rope great again. Reusable energy.


57 posted on 11/02/2023 11:00:10 PM PDT by Salvavida
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Eh. Maybe in racing applications. Maybe. Mostly it’s a crock. Doesn’t matter in normal driving.


58 posted on 11/03/2023 8:24:40 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

The air has about 80% nitrogen in it by default.
= = =

Oxygen molecules are smaller than nitrogen molecules.

If they ‘leak’ out of the tire more than nitrogen, the nitrogen % will raise.

My experience is that after filling a tire, pressure decreases over a couple of months (and is topped up), then stabalizes.


59 posted on 11/03/2023 8:34:55 AM PDT by Scrambler Bob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Go with the needle. The drugs are easily available at Home Depot or Lowe’s although they call it Liquid Plumber for some reason.


60 posted on 11/03/2023 12:38:00 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Freedom isn't free, liberty isn't liberal and you'll never find anything Right on the Left)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson