cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/14097254
Smith’s execution by “nitrogen hypoxia” took around 22 minutes, according to media witnesses, who were led into a viewing room at the William C Holman correctional facility in Atmore shortly before 8 pm local time.
After the nitrogen gas began flowing, Smith convulsed on the gurney for several minutes. The state had previously said the nitrogen gas would cause Smith to lose consciousness in seconds and die within minutes, according to the Associated Press.
“I’ve been to four previous executions and I’ve never seen a condemned inmate thrash in the way that Kenneth Smith reacted to the nitrogen gas,” Lee Hedgepeth, a journalist who witnessed the execution, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
They managed to find a way to make it inhumane. That just goes to show that malicious people can fuck anything up if they really want to.
Still, if I were going to be killed and got to choose the method, nitrogen would be high on my list of options, as long as it’s actually just nitrogen and not nitrogen with a side of CO2 poisoning.
I agree completely. I wouldn’t trust our justice system to do it correctly though either, especially a state like Alabama.