Alabama aims to become the first American state to execute a prisoner by forcing them to breathe pure nitrogen, Associated Press has reported.
The state's attorney general's office has petitioned the local supreme court to set a date for the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was not executed in 2022 due to the inability to administer a lethal injection.
"Alabama plans to execute him using nitrogen hypoxia," the publication states.
In this method of execution, the inmate is allowed to breathe only nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen. The agency clarified that execution by nitrogen hypoxia is permitted in three states but has never been used.
While the USA permits federal-level executions, 23 states, as well as the capital and Puerto Rico at the local level, have abolished the death penalty.
57-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith was scheduled to be executed on November 17, 2022, for the contract killing of a preacher's wife in 1988.
Smith was convicted for the murder of Elizabeth Sennett in 1988, orchestrated by her husband, Reverend Charles Sennett, who was deeply in debt and sought insurance money.
Prosecutors revealed that Smith and his accomplice, John Forrest Parker, were paid $1,000 each for the murder of the woman. She was stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of her neck in the couple's home.
Charles Sennett, who was involved in an affair, committed suicide a week later.
Parker was executed in 2010. When asked if he had any final words, he turned to Elizabeth's two sons and said, "I'm sorry. I never expected you to forgive me. I'm truly sorry."
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