Photo: Alabama Department
The Alabama Supreme Court has approved the execution of a convicted killer using nitrogen hypoxia. Alabama attempted to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith in November 2022 by lethal injection. However, they had to call off the execution after workers were unable to connect the two intravenous lines to him before the execution warrant expired.
Alabama approved using nitrogen hypoxia for executions in 2018 but has not yet conducted an execution using the controversial method. Oklahoma and Mississippi also allow nitrogen hypoxia for executions, but like Alabama, neither state has used the method.
Smith has been on death row since 1996 after he was one of two men convicted in 1988 for killing Elizabeth Sennett in her home in a murder-for-hire plot. Sennett's husband, a local preacher, was the one who hired the two men to kill his wife so he could collect on her life insurance to pay off his debts.
"Elizabeth Sennett's family has waited an unconscionable 35 years to see justice served. Today, the Alabama Supreme Court cleared the way for Kenneth Eugene Smith to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia," Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement. "Though the wait has been far too long, I am grateful that our capital litigators have nearly gotten this case to the finish line."
Officials have not set a date for Smith's execution.