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

Skip to comments.

BREAKING NEWSHistoric first nitrogen gas execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith took 22 MINUTES and murderer 'writhed and shook' for two minutes while 'pulling against the restraints': Last words declared method 'a step back for humanity'
Daily Mail UK ^ | January 25, 2024 | Will Potter

Posted on 01/25/2024 7:41:37 PM PST by Morgana

Kenneth Eugene Smith has become the first person in history to be executed with nitrogen gas.

The convicted killer, 58, had a tight gas mask placed over his nose and mouth before a stream of 100 percent nitrogen gas suffocated him inside the execution chamber at the William C. Holman prison in Atmore, Alabama.

Smith was officially pronounced dead at 8:25 local time, following a 22-minute ordeal where he appeared to remain conscious for several minutes. He shook violently and pulled on the restraints on the gurney, continuing to breathe the nitrogen gas heavily until he succumbed and passed out.

In his final words, delivered through the gas mask on his face, Smith said: 'Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards... I’m leaving with love, peace and light.'

He made an 'I love you sign' with his hands to his family in the witness box before he was strapped down, adding: 'Thank you for supporting me. Love, love all of you.'

He was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher's wife in 1988, where he was paid just $1,000 for the hit.

Smith's pastor John Ewell told DailyMail.com before his execution that the killer was 'really struggling' with the reality of his imminent death, and officials said he barely touched his final meal of a T-bone steak, hashbrowns, eggs and A1 Sauce from Waffle House.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: 22minutes; alabama; execution; nitrogen; swillpotter; update; willpotter
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-125 next last
To: Morgana

This was a real tragedy. s/


21 posted on 01/25/2024 8:01:42 PM PST by oldplayer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2nd Amendment

“How did his victim die?”

Well for starters it took her longer than 22 minutes to die after she was beaten and stabbed 17 times. This after she fought for her life.

She actually died in hospital while in surgery.


22 posted on 01/25/2024 8:02:43 PM PST by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: technically right

<< .357 magnum to the head. Lights out and only a buck 20 to the taxpayers >>

And administered a few days (rather than a few decades) after sentencing.


23 posted on 01/25/2024 8:03:11 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Morgana
...his final meal of a T-bone steak, hashbrowns, eggs and A1 Sauce from Waffle House.

So now Waffle House can advertise this meal as "The Last Meal Special" ...

24 posted on 01/25/2024 8:03:14 PM PST by BlueLancer (Think of it as evolution in action. [Oath of Fealty - Pournelle and Niven])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BlueLancer

“...his final meal of a T-bone steak, hashbrowns, eggs and A1 Sauce from Waffle House.

So now Waffle House can advertise this meal as “The Last Meal Special” ... “

I’m shocked the Waffle House food did not kill him first


25 posted on 01/25/2024 8:05:01 PM PST by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Jim Noble

It’s a strange thing, to me. Is it Masonic, or something?

Where does all this compassion for the murderer, and not the victim or victim’s family, come from?

Hollywood seems replete with hand-wringing for those who have mercilessly tortured others.


26 posted on 01/25/2024 8:05:54 PM PST by Empire_of_Liberty
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 2nd Amendment

Nitrogen asphyxia. Instead of a poisonous gas, the gas mask delivered pure nitrogen. One feels panic due to accumulating carbon dioxide. Since the mask delivers pure nitrogen gas to replace exhaled air, there is no buildup of carbon dioxide. Therefore the brain does not perceive being asphyiated.


27 posted on 01/25/2024 8:07:01 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: BigEdLB

Texas is blowing up and we are worried about a freshly dead murderer
———
It appears to me Biden’s administration is blowing up.


28 posted on 01/25/2024 8:08:39 PM PST by delta7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

why can’t they just put them to sleep the way they do me for a colonoscopy? It’s VERY peaceful.


29 posted on 01/25/2024 8:10:42 PM PST by SomeCallMeTim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

22 minutes? Wonder how long it took for that trusting preachers wife to die.

“The two men knocked on the door and informed Elizabeth Sennett that they had been told by her husband that they could explore the Sennetts’ property, because they wanted to hunt on the land. Elizabeth Sennett had the two men wait while she called her husband to verify their story. Charles Sennett apparently told his wife to allow them to walk around the property. Elizabeth Sennett remained inside the house while the two men walked around behind the property and, according to the appellant’s statement, drove down the road and then returned. The men again knocked on the door and asked Elizabeth Sennett if they could use the bathroom and get some water. Elizabeth Sennett allowed them into the house and, while John Parker was in the bathroom, the appellant talked to Mrs. Sennett. John Parker approached Elizabeth Sennett from the rear and “blind-sided her.” A beating then ensued, in which the victim apparently struggled for her life. The evidence indicated that during the beating any item within reach was used as a weapon. The men apparently used every piece of a fireplace set, a walking cane, and a piece of galvanized pipe and, after beating her, stabbed her eight times with a survival knife.”


30 posted on 01/25/2024 8:11:19 PM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

“...until he succumbed and passed out.”

Is there a way to execute someone? I’m surprised they had him awake for the process. Why not put him out then use the gas. There is no reason for others to watch him die that means anything. Torture is not the answer more for the observers than the criminal.

Do I support the death penalt...absolutely. But even when you have to put a pet down they use a drug prior to giving them the pentobarbital I.V., to render them unconscious. Why not do the same to criminals? The real pain of death in this instance is the waiting for it to happen. That’s where it really hits home. That’s where the real pain is. But if it doesn’t happen, more will die as there is no deterrence. Prison isn’t, it’s a vacation.

wy69


31 posted on 01/25/2024 8:11:45 PM PST by whitney69 (yption tunnels)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Magnum44
It's not nitrous oxide. Its 100% N2 gas. The brain is starved of oxygen, but the person being executed doesn't feel being deprived of oxygen due to the carbon dioxide from exhaled gases being taken away.
32 posted on 01/25/2024 8:12:08 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

A “step back for humanity” is perfect for an azho who took a thousand bucks to murder a woman. They should have charged him for the nitrogen.


33 posted on 01/25/2024 8:12:13 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Who the hell is Bidenskyyyy to throw our tax dollars at illegal foreigners just to get their votes? )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BlueLancer

LOL. Only problem with that is any meal from Waffle House could be your last....


34 posted on 01/25/2024 8:12:14 PM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

“Cruel and unsual” comes to mind here. “Quick and dispassionate” come to mind with executing malcontents that would shed innocent human blood without conscience.

I state this without knowledge of the case at hand.


35 posted on 01/25/2024 8:14:13 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew (In a world of parrots and lemmings, be a watchdog.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paleo Conservative

It’s not nitrous oxide but the physiological effect is the same. Painless brain oxygen starvation. I think we are saying the same thing.


36 posted on 01/25/2024 8:14:35 PM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

They should just have all those convicted of a Capital Crime, work like mules, constructing living essentials for the rest of humanity.


37 posted on 01/25/2024 8:14:49 PM PST by mazz44 (http://knowledgeofhealth.com/why-animals-age-they-produce-less-vitamin-c-same-for-humans/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana
You know...

If this form of execution catches on, I see no reason why it can't become a group thing.

Got five people on death row? Put them all in a sealed room and pump the nitrogen into the room. Execute them all for the expense of just one.

-PJ

38 posted on 01/25/2024 8:15:10 PM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Political Junkie Too
Oh, and then make the last meal a buffet.

-PJ

39 posted on 01/25/2024 8:15:49 PM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Leftists are just hypocrites.


40 posted on 01/25/2024 8:16:36 PM PST by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-125 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