Sept 22 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Alabama is weighing whether to allow the state to become the first to execute a prisoner with a novel method: asphyxiation using nitrogen gas.
Last month, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the court to allow the state to proceed with gassing Kenneth Smith, who was convicted of murder in 1996, using a face mask connected to a cylinder of nitrogen intended to deprive him of oxygen.
Smith’s lawyers have said the untested protocol may violate the U.S. Constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishments,” and have argued a second attempt to execute him by any method is unconstitutional.
In a reply brief filed with the court on Friday, they called the nitrogen gas protocol “so heavily redacted that it is unintelligible,” and said Smith had not yet exhausted his appeals.
I’m going to say that while everything I’ve read on the matter supports the “it’s one of the more pleasant ways to go” argument, I’d be more interested in reading expert opinions on the matter before coming to a concrete conclusion.
The lawyers on both sides of the case should be consulting with doctors and medical researchers to understand what the experience would consist of, how long it would take, the efficacy, side effects if it fails, etc. This is the information that I think should be the deciding factor for proceeding or not.
I will also say that while oxygen deprivation is quick, it’s not instant. It does take up to a few minutes in some cases before brain death to occur, and something to the order of 30 seconds to a minute for unconsciousness to set in.
My personal opinion based on the information so far, assuming that everything I’ve read is factual, would suggest that of all the execution routes available so far, this one is likely the least awful. I won’t say most humane, as I don’t really believe there is a humane way to approach it. If we do have to use the death penalty though, I think this is the approach I would have the fewest objections to.
I’ve been trained on hazardous atmospheres and confined space entry, and worked with asphyxiant gases as an air separation plant operator/technician. One breath of a hazardous atmosphere will knock a person unconscious because upon inhalation the brain is immediately deprived of oxygen. There are asphyxiation industrial accidents regularly, and it’s often horrible because it usually involves two people. The person who’s initially exposed, and then the person who attempts initial rescue because they don’t understand the hazard.
Death may occur in minutes, but it’s not like drowning or suffocating. Unconsciousness is immediate.