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.​

 

[xn--mck1c]

It's the government we're talking about. Are you really surprised that they could overcomplicate something as simple as killing a dude?

Exactly, it's as if it's their duty to make sure no method is foolproof.
Except when it comes to making money, they're generally good at that.

 

[Big Brutus]

Exactly, it's as if it's their duty to make sure no method is foolproof.
Except when it comes to making money, they're generally good at that.

If you want to see government efficiently killing people, there's the Nashville cop who sent the Covenant shooter back to the drawing board.

 

[OvercookedBacon]

If you want to see government efficiently killing people, there's the Nashville cop who sent the Covenant shooter back to the drawing board.

Unfortunately, the "wrong" kind of efficient. The powers that be want less Nashvilles and more Uvaldes.

 

[AnotherPleb]

Hows that now? By that logic using the gas chamber would put everyones lives at risk as well. Especially considering the gas involved is hydrogen cyanide. The ACLU is acting like the DOC doesn't know how to operate a gas chamber properly. The only thing really changing here is the specific gas being used

That said, it should be interesting to see how this type of execution goes. Assuming he ever actually ends up being executed.

The (((ACLU))) has a vested interest in ensuring people don't even think of gas chambers

The Supreme Court has upheld firing squads and (I think) even single-shooters as Constitutional forms of execution. People on death row get shot in Utah without any "failures."

Yet everyone wants to medicalize everything.

How come?

The people in charge want to make execution illegal but they know saying it outright would embolden the plebs.

 

[Otis Mallebrok]

Switch it up every now and then with some sodium hexaflouride:

Sulphur hexaflouride

 

[Kulee Baba]

Thank you Alabama.

 

[sedoL]

Doesn't that make his last meal last time just one big lie?

Now THAT'S rude.

 

[OvercookedBacon]

Sulphur hexaflouride

My bad, thank you.

 

[MirrorNoir]

The Supreme Court has upheld firing squads and (I think) even single-shooters as Constitutional forms of execution. People on death row get shot in Utah without any "failures."

Yet everyone wants to medicalize everything.

How come?

IIRC firing squad executions don't allow for people to watch like lethal injection or electric chair does due to it requiring a larger room for logistics that doesn't allow for spectator seats or anonymity for the firing squad folk (several of which shoot at the condemned but only one randomly gets the rifle with an actual bullet as the rest only have blanks so no one knows which gun/shooter fired the bullet that kills), and the idea that firing squad deaths are too fancy and special for people to request, as far as it being up there with "being chased by a horde of angry women off a cliff to your death" type of executions that piss off people who just want them dead in the quickest, most cost effective manner possible. As lethal injection is super quick, lets plenty of people watch the carnage, and boring enough to deny the condemned a big send-off since the people who do it are doctors who are moonlighting as killers for the state and not a big squad of handsome Chad Sexingtons blasting away at you with rifles trying to hit a target on your chest to send you to the inferno.

 

[Chongqing]

IIRC firing squad executions don't allow for people to watch like lethal injection or electric chair

That's not my understanding of it. There was an NPR radio documentary about an execution in Utah that used a firing squad. It was members of the national guard who volunteered, it was done outdoors, journalists and victims were there, and the method lethality didn't fail.

It was perfect.

Also, with blanks, you have it backwards. It something like 7 rifles fired with only one (or two, I can't remember) blanks. There are at least five real bullets.

There is a movement now, however, to make it so there are no blanks, because if the intention is to kill then let's kill.

 

[Big Brutus]

Unfortunately, the "wrong" kind of efficient. The powers that be want less Nashvilles and more Uvaldes.

Uvalde shattered the narrative of "you don't need a gun, the police will protect you."

View attachment 5493119
Thank you Alabama.

You need a mask on your face for the nitrogen gas to work properly, silly

Also, with blanks, you have it backwards. It something like 7 rifles fired with only one (or two, I can't remember) blanks. There are at least five real bullets.

If I remember correctly, the practice for decades at this point has been to use wax bullets to more realistically mimic the recoil of a live round.

There is a movement now, however, to make it so there are no blanks, because if the intention is to kill then let's kill.

The reason why wax bullets are used is to make it impossible for the executioners to know which of them actually fired live rounds. It's for their mental health, at least theoretically.

 

[kartofel]

People need to stop being moral cowards and either ban the death penalty or just accept that it means killing people. Fucking about with exotic execution methods because people are unwilling to face reality has led to more cruel executions than we had before this crap. Personally, I like Soviet style executions. It is quick, cheap, easily implemented, and only requires equipment any state should have on hand already. This article details how Belarus does it, but it is a technique they inherited from the Soviets. All you really need is a couple guys, a pistol and two rounds of ammunition. Process takes two minutes from start to finish.

 

[Big Brutus]

People need to stop being moral cowards and either ban the death penalty or just accept that it means killing people. Fucking about with exotic execution methods because people are unwilling to face reality has led to more cruel executions than we had before this crap. Personally, I like Soviet style executions. It is quick, cheap, easily implemented, and only requires equipment any state should have on hand already. This article details how Belarus does it, but it is a technique they inherited from the Soviets. All you really need is a couple guys, a pistol and two rounds of ammunition. Process takes two minutes from start to finish.

You're right. The Soviets were very efficient at it, though it should be noted that they had a lot of practice during World War II.

Let's be honest here about the American approach to the issue: nitrogen gas seems like the method that this country has been looking for.

 

[Manul Otocolobus]

Sulphur hexaflouride

Now that makes sense. It just wouldn't be possible with sodium.

That's not my understanding of it. There was an NPR radio documentary about an execution in Utah that used a firing squad. It was members of the national guard who volunteered, it was done outdoors, journalists and victims were there, and the method lethality didn't fail.

It was perfect.

Also, with blanks, you have it backwards. It something like 7 rifles fired with only one (or two, I can't remember) blanks. There are at least five real bullets.

There is a movement now, however, to make it so there are no blanks, because if the intention is to kill then let's kill.

The point of the randomized blanks is that none of the executioners that pull the trigger can be definitively proven to have been the bullet that killed the guy.

 

[Belligerent Monk II]

We give these scum the benefit of a "merciful and humane" death when the perps never give their victims anything close to that.

Throw his ass in an enclosure with man-eating pigs and dogs. Fuck em.

 

[Fartificial Insmelligence]

We give these scum the benefit of a "merciful and humane" death when the perps never give their victims anything close to that.
Throw his ass in an enclosure with man-eating pigs and dogs. Fuck em.

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.

 

[The Connected Nose]

Unfortunately, the "wrong" kind of efficient. The powers that be want less Nashvilles and more Uvaldes.

Nashville Metro cops knew that if they sat on their thumbs like Uvalde, the public would eat them alive. Possibly literally. And that's the way it should be.

but only one randomly gets the rifle with an actual bullet as the rest only have blanks so no one knows which gun/shooter fired the bullet that kills

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.

 

[Vecr]

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.

Pretty much, but if you want it to work correctly you use all but one or two real rounds and the remainder wax rounds so it's harder to tell.

 

[AnotherPleb]

Let's be honest here about the American approach to the issue: nitrogen gas seems like the method that this country has been looking for.

Big Pharma can't make money so I can see it getting shot down hard.

Nashville Metro cops knew that if they sat on their thumbs like Uvalde, the public would eat them alive. Possibly literally. And that's the way it should be.

Uvalde was told to stand down by fedbois and it took a border patrol cop to stop shit.

 

[BIG BILL HELL'S]

So the first execution of this guy failed. I wonder if he's going to get a second last meal? Lucky fuck...

I hope he asks for Spaghettios.