{"id":27057,"date":"2024-01-25T06:35:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T11:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=27057"},"modified":"2024-01-25T06:36:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T11:36:38","slug":"us-inmate-faces-first-nitrogen-execution-after-losing-last-minute-appeals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/01\/25\/us-inmate-faces-first-nitrogen-execution-after-losing-last-minute-appeals\/","title":{"rendered":"US inmate faces first nitrogen execution after losing last-minute appeals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An Alabama death row inmate is expected to become the first person in the US to be executed with nitrogen gas, after losing last-minute appeals.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The US Supreme Court and a lower appeals court declined to block what Kenneth Eugene Smith’s lawyers called a “cruel and unusual” punishment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Opponents say using nitrogen could cause unnecessary suffering, and a leak could harm people present in the room.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Smith, 58, was convicted in 1989 of murdering Elizabeth Sennett.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alabama has 30 hours to carry out the execution, which involves pumping nitrogen gas through a mask, from Thursday at 0600 GMT (0100 ET).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He told the BBC earlier this week that the wait felt like torture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Smith would be the first person to be put to death by this method in the US and, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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