DEATH PENALTY: America's controversial new tool for dispatching condemned
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America has never been squeamish when it comes to developing new methods to deliver condemned killers to the abyss.
But as the old saying goes, the road to hell can be paved with good intentions. And that’s what happened to Alabama hitman Kenny Smith last Thursday.
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It was supposed to be all over quickly for the contract killer who rotted for 36 years on the state’s death row for icing a preacher’s wife for $1,000. Nitrogen gas was supposed to send Kenny to the hereafter, el pronto.
Instead, he cried out, thrashed and convulsed during the agonizing 22 minutes it took to kill him of suffocation. His wife Deanna sobbed uncontrollably as he struggled for breath.
Calling it the “worst thing” he’d ever seen, the killer’s spiritual adviser Jeff Hood said everyone was “visibly surprised at how bad this thing went. We didn’t see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds. What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life.”
He added: “We saw minutes of someone heaving back and forth. We saw spit. We saw all sorts of stuff from his mouth develop on the mask. We saw this mask tied to the gurney, and him ripping his head forward over and over and over again.”
As for the condemned man, his final statement was: “Alabama caused humanity to take a step backward.”
Prison officials brushed off the horror show, claiming it went well.
Smith’s lawyers claimed their client was effectively being used as a guinea pig as the first person to be executed by the deadly gas.
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For most of American history, the rope was the favoured execution method. But the promising 20th century brought about a desire by “reformers” for a more humane way to send killers to the morgue.
Of course, you could always opt for the firing squad in the Utah Territory (still can).
Hanging gave way to the electric chair. On Aug. 6, 1890, Buffalo axe killer William Kempler was the first to fry, but his demise — like Smith’s — was a horror show. There was some tinkering needed with the new death machine, but by the 1920s, 26 states were using the electric chair.
Next came the gas chamber. The first to go was Gee Jon in Nevada on Feb. 8, 1924. This method was particularly popular in the western U.S., most notably California.
Following the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976, the electric chair gave way to lethal injection, which remains the most popular method of execution after its first victim in 1982. But that also has its pitfalls.
Alabama claimed that when using the gas, the condemned would lose consciousness quickly. He didn’t.
WHAT IS NITROGEN HYPOXIA?
Nitrogen hypoxia execution causes death by forcing the inmate to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving him or her of the oxygen needed to maintain bodily functions.
HOW IS IT SUPPOSED TO WORK?
Nitrogen — colourless and odourless — makes up 78% of the air inhaled by humans and is harmless when breathed with proper levels of oxygen. The theory behind nitrogen hypoxia is that changing the composition of the air to 100% nitrogen will cause the condemned to lose consciousness and then die from lack of oxygen.
CRITICISMS?
Smith’s lawyers argued the mask isn’t airtight and that leaking oxygen could prolong his death, causing nausea and the test subject to choke to death on his vomit.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
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