Alabama is likely to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen, a death penalty method that is authorized by three states but has never been used.
The office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the state Supreme Court in a court filing on Friday to set an execution date for 58-year-old death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith. The filing revealed Alabama intends to put him to death by nitrogen hypoxia according to Fox News.
Smith was one of two men convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire killing of a preacher’s wife.
Nitrogen hypoxia is caused by forcing the inmate to breathe only nitrogen, which deprives them of oxygen and kills them. The air inhaled by people includes 78% nitrogen but is harmless when inhaled with oxygen.
Alabama authorized nitrogen hypoxia in 2018 during a shortage of drugs used to carry out lethal injections, but the state has not used the method to carry out a death sentence. Oklahoma and Mississippi also authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method but have not used it.
Proponents of the new execution method have claimed it would be painless, but opponents have argued that it is a form of human experimentation.
Alabama attempted to execute Smith by lethal injection last year but failed to carry it out because of issues with inserting an IV into his veins.
The state has been working to develop the nitrogen hypoxia execution method for several years.
