Judge suggests change to nitrogen execution to let inmate pray and say final words without gas mask

By Chris Peeks December 22, 2023

A judge in Alabama is asking a death row inmate to pray and say his last words without a gas mask Scott McDonald, 8 hours ago The Messenger follow Kenneth Eugene Smith may become the nation's first death row inmate to die of nitrogen hypoxia A judge in Alabama is ordering a man executed by nitrogen gas, who will become the nation's first death row inmate, to get a chance to say his last words and a final prayer before donning a mask and witnesses arrive to watch him wait. . death . U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker, who is considering whether Kenneth Eugene Smith should die of hypoxia next month, wrote in a court filing that Alabama should allow the procedural change, according to the Associated Press. "As noted at the hearing, the Court encourages defendants to consider modifying the record to accommodate plaintiff Smith's expressed desire to audibly pray and make his final statement unmasked and in the presence of witnesses prior to the scheduled execution," the federal judge wrote. According to AP. Smith wins in January. 25 is the country's first execution by nitrogen gas. Mississippi and Oklahoma are the only other states that have adopted this enforcement measure, but none have yet implemented the method. Alabama state law requires an inmate to be masked before witnesses appear. Smith's lawyers say that means he won't have a chance to pray out loud or say any last words before he takes his last breath. Death from nitrogen hypoxia is practically a form of suffocation, where the body does not receive oxygen when it inhales pure nitrogen. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air humans breathe and is harmless when inhaled with oxygen, but deadly by itself. Smith was judged in 1988 due to the popular murder of an Alabama preacher and his wife. Prosecutors said he was paid $1,000 to execute Elizabeth Sennett

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Source VIAP News Wire