Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser
(Atmore. AL) — Alabama used nitrogen gas to put a convicted murderer to death Thursday night. It was the first time the method was ever used in the U.S. 58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. Smith’s attorneys tried to stop the execution, arguing Alabama was using him as a test subject for a method that would suffocate their client.
The United Nations human rights chief condemned the execution, calling death by nitrogen hypoxia torture. One witness reported the 58-year-old Smith struggled to breathe for more than 20 minutes before passing away.
