Alabama to allow first execution using nitrogen hypoxia

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On Wednesday, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of a motion to allow the state to execute Kenneth Smith with nitrogen hypoxia.

The use of nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method has never been tested. The gas has a history of being extremely deadly and could pose a threat to the staff and spiritual advisers present in the execution chamber.

Attorney General Steve Marshall posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, after the court granted his motion to allow Alabama to use nitrogen hypoxia on Smith.

Alison Mollman, interim legal director of the ACLU of Alabama, made a statement denouncing the use of nitrogen hypoxia. Mollman stated that Marshall and Governor Kay Ivey could be putting the lives of staff, spiritual advisers, media, and victims at risk if they do not stop Smith’s execution.

Alabama previously tried to execute Smith last year but failed due to a botched lethal injection. Now, they are trying again, only with a method never tested before and could harm or kill others.

Update on Page 8, post #148.​

 

[Snazzy Sneedy Snake]

If you ever want to read the definitive occurrence of that phenomenon, read up on the Byford Dolphin diving bell "incident". Just the text description of what happened in the investigation report is nightmare fuel. I strongly suggest you do not look for the actual pictures that were part of the investigation.

I unfortunately have seen the report and photos from it, back when I was doing research for some paper or something awhile back. The description I could handle due to reading autopsy reports before (brain goes into analysis mode), the pictures are...something else. I had a hard time even understanding what I was looking at. It was...bad. The only reason it wasn't worse was the pictures were black & white. I can't imagine seeing colour ones. To give just one example (don't read if squeamish),

Spoiler: seriously don't read if squeamish

there was a guy's face separated from his head.

I do not recommend looking it up.

 

[Manul Otocolobus]

I thought it was the other way around, where most (or at least a majority) of the shooters had live rounds, and only one or two had blanks. That way you get assurance of a kill, and everyone gets to believe they were the one with the blank.

That is correct.

 

[Belligerent Monk II]

That sounds satisfying on an emotional level, but realistically what’s best is just getting rid of the person quickly and efficiently. Smoking them out means no messy cleanup and no feelings of remorse or guilt.

What remorse or guilt?

 

[Big Brutus]

What remorse or guilt?

Most people have a conscience, even if they kill a complete scumbag. It's an evolutionary trait designed to keep us from indiscriminately killing those who are part of our society.

That being said, I think that, for example, child molesters deserve to die. And yeah, that includes via a judicially-enforced punishment.

 

[Big Brutus]

Alabama plans the first nitrogen gas execution this week in largely secret process experts say raises concerns about cruelty​

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Alabama intends to carry out the first known execution by nitrogen gas this week, when it’s scheduled to put to death Kenneth Smith some 14 months after failing to carry out his capital punishment by lethal injection.

But little is known about how the method, nitrogen hypoxia, will be carried out during a 30-hour execution window Thursday into Friday, as the state’s published protocol bears redactions that experts say shield key details from public scrutiny. The state, in court records, indicated the redactions were made to maintain security.

Amid the uncertainty, Smith and his lawyers – along with experts from the United States to the United Nations – have questioned whether potential complications from the nitrogen gas procedure could lead to excessive pain or even torture for the inmate who previously asked to be put to death in this way.

Alabama is one of just three states, along with Oklahoma and Mississippi, that have approved use of nitrogen gas to carry out death sentences. But none has used it, and only Alabama has outlined a protocol.

While some US states decades ago used lethal gas to execute prisoners, the use of nitrogen would be new: In theory, it involves replacing the air breathed by an inmate with 100% nitrogen, depriving the body of the oxygen it needs to survive. Such displacement would lead to a painless death, according to the method’s proponents, who cite nitrogen’s role in deadly industrial accidents or suicides.

For its part, though, Alabama this week is “ready to go,” with the nitrogen hypoxia execution of Smith, its Republican governor told CNN in a statement: “This method has been thoroughly vetted, and both the Alabama Department of Corrections and the Attorney General’s Office have indicated it is ready to go,” said Gov. Kay Ivey.

 

[The best and greatest]

Because people have become extremely squeamish about exterior damage to the body and deem it "barbaric", even though just shooting a guy in the heart is much more merciful than gassing them, injecting them with poison and other mengele shit they do now.

Nitrogen hypoxia (in theory) is probably the way I'd want to go.
Its painless and you dont even experience 'suffocation' You just keep breathing until your vision darkens then you go to sleep and never wake up.
Its just about the most humane pussyfoot way you could reliably execute someone.

 

[Tony Vivaldi]

there's a lot of money to be made in ~medical~ executions.
need to pay a real medical doctor, or even several, possibly with specialized assistants. need super special custom equipment to do it, and need special medical supplies..

firing squad on the other hand is dirt cheap. rifles and ammo and men to pull the trigger are very easy to come by for government, so there's very little opportunity for grifting and corruption.

I prefer hanging. You can reuse the rope, reuse the scaffolding even after being broken down, and if you even have a hint...you can go up, poke 'im, and say, "Yup, that dude is dead."

 

[Shidoen]

SWEET HOME ALABAMA!
WHERE THEY STEAL YOUR O2 FROM YOU!

 

[draggs]

Jesus just line up five guys with rifles in front of the condemned. Nobody is doing anything but dying instantly from five rounds of .30-06 to the skull from ten paces

 

[Big Brutus]

Jesus just line up five guys with rifles in front of the condemned. Nobody is doing anything but dying instantly from five rounds of .30-06 to the skull from ten paces

As has been stated before, nitrogen hypoxia is a virtually painless process. While firing squad would be the same way if done to the head, it would be incredibly messy. No open casket for that guy.

Nitrogen hypoxia in industrial accidents, when it usually happens, the victim doesn't even know it's happening.

 

[draggs]

As has been stated before, nitrogen hypoxia is a virtually painless process. While firing squad would be the same way if done to the head, it would be incredibly messy. No open casket for that guy.

Nitrogen hypoxia in industrial accidents, when it usually happens, the victim doesn't even know it's happening.

Air that is 1.28% carbon monoxide causes unconsciousness in about 4 seconds and death in about 2 minutes. Let's do that

 

[The best and greatest]

Air that is 1.28% carbon monoxide causes unconsciousness in about 4 seconds and death in about 2 minutes. Let's do that

No green tax credits for you

 

[Al from Dadeville]

They could probably use a fingertip SPO2 probe on any of the other dudes in the execution chamber to make sure they aren’t accidentally getting gassed if that’s a real worry and not just the legal team being dramatic

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

If anyone wants to see a non lethal example of what this potential could be like. Smarter Every Day tested out what hypoxia feels like and how dangerous it is for pilots. However, in this case, depending on how it is dosed it'll probably be about as quick as carbon monoxide. However, here is a Dark Science video of what happens when you die from Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

Smarter Every Day:

Dark Science:

---

If this goes poorly, dude should play the lottery and give the winnings to their family...then just shoot'm in the head.

 

[LeChampion1992]

Can't we bring back public hanging again? I mean seriously publicly hanging criminals is a good idea instead. The electric chair and lethal injection and gas just give us something more honest. A good old fashioned hanging.

 

[The Foxtrot]

Can't we bring back public hanging again? I mean seriously publicly hanging criminals is a good idea instead. The electric chair and lethal injection and gas just give us something more honest. A good old fashioned hanging.

I agree with the suggestion of Uncle Ruckus:
"Hang that nigga now! I got the rope right here!"

 

[Snekposter]

You can reuse the rope

You can't. It stretches after use and messes up the drop length tables. Aside from that though, you're dead on, and you could replace the rope with steel cable that has a padded noose section so it doesn't cut into the person's throat.

 

[Apustajan apustaja]

You can't. It stretches after use and messes up the drop length tables. Aside from that though, you're dead on, and you could replace the rope with steel cable that has a padded noose section so it doesn't cut into the person's throat.

You should always stretch the rope beforehand with sandbags. Or at least that is what I've read in old manuals. The bongs still had these padded noose sections with an eyelet instead of knot on regular hemp rope.

All this litigation over methods is just a show because the state needs to make it look humane when they demonstrate their power. Killing it's own citizens is not a power I like the state to have, it always goes south when you get the wrong people in power.
Speaking of that, the nazi era guillotines were pretty good and efficient, and any modern metal shop could build them quite cheaply. If you steal the tipping board from the classic French design it would be even better. You might have to make it a bit bigger to accommodate american dissidents and murderers, but otherwise I think we have been killing people for millennia, it seems unnecessary to think of novel ways.

 

[PhoBingas]

firing squad on the other hand is dirt cheap. rifles and ammo and men to pull the trigger are very easy to come by for government, so there's very little opportunity for grifting and corruption.

Fuck firing squads, bullets are getting expensive. Find a rock you need two hands to lift; then find another one. Put the first rock down on solid ground, put your prisoner's head on the rock and drop the second one on his head. Pol Pot might have been a communist dictator, but he had some interesting ways to deal with undesirables; and you could sell it to the leftists as an organic, chemical-free, all natural execution.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Just use the bolt pistol that Anton Chigur used in No Country for Old Men