Who will be executed and for what?
Convicted Kenneth Smith, 58, was hired in 1988 to help carry out a contract killing. The client was Charles Sennett Sr., the Protestant minister of Christ Church in Sheffield: he got into debt and had an affair with his wife, but found a way out of two problems at once. Sennett took out expensive insurance on his wife Elizabeth’s life and then ordered Billy Williams, Kenneth Smith, and Jim Parker to kill her by staging a house robbery. The criminals stabbed the woman and beat her with fireplace pokers. She appeared dead when the police arrived.
However, the ambulance doctors were able to feel his pulse; The priest nearly fell over when he heard this. Elizabeth died in the hospital without regaining consciousness, but this did not help Sennett to cope with his debts: detectives solved the case very quickly. The preacher, who became a suspect during the investigation, committed suicide. Williams was sentenced to life in prison; One of his accomplices, Jim Parker, was executed in 2010.
The court also sentenced Kenneth Smith to death, but his fate was more complicated. He was scheduled to receive the US standard lethal injection on November 17, 2022, but due to the characteristics of his body, medical staff could not find a single vein in his body.
An unsuccessful execution does not cancel the sentence, and now they will try to carry it out in a new way for the United States with the help of nitrogen.
How does nitrogen application work?
According to the protocol, the execution of the death penalty is as follows:
- The convict is taken to a special cell, where he is placed on a couch, his arms and legs are tied, and a pulse oximeter is connected.
- Executioners will put a breathing mask on the prisoner’s face and check if the mask fits tightly.
- At the request of the prisoner, a clergyman (priest, pastor, imam, etc.) is invited to the cell to perform the death rites.
- The guard will open the curtains on the window, behind which there will be witnesses of the execution (in this case, two sons of the murdered Elizabeth Sennett).
- The guard will read the execution order. From this moment on, the convict has two minutes to say his last word.Lawyers argued that the respirator worn during a nitrogen execution would cover the nose and mouth, preventing the prisoner from praying out loud or making a final statement before dying.
- The warden will work with the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections to review whether all protocols were followed correctly and whether there were any factors that would cause the execution to be postponed at the last minute.
- The executioners will double-check how the mask fits.
- The manager turns on the nitrogen system.
- After a solid line appears on the ECG machine screen (cardiac arrest), nitrogen gas will be introduced into the mask for 15 minutes or 5 minutes.
- After the execution is completed, the curtains of the windows will be closed for witnesses.
- The cleric will leave the cell.
How much does it hurt?
Human rights advocates and the prisoner’s lawyers tried to overturn the execution, citing the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel punishment. According to them idea, this method has never been tested, so Smith is an involuntary test subject. U.S. and UN experts also question whether potential complications from nitrogen use could lead to extreme pain or even torture in the prisoner. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Alabama to halt the execution.
But many biological and medical experts believe that nitrogen is perhaps the most painless way to take a human life.
“This execution through nitrogen hypoxia can also be called execution due to lack of oxygen. The person is fitted with a full face mask, the oxygen gradually leaves him, leaving only the nitrogen supplied from the cylinder.” “People lose consciousness as if it were happening in high mountains where there is little oxygen in the air,” he said. – Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences, employee of the National State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Health PF Lesgafta (St. Petersburg) Alexander Vetosh wrote the book “Biological Effects of Nitrogen”.
The scientist emphasizes that it is important to continue supplying nitrogen to the mask even after cardiac arrest. Since the nitrogen mainly formed by the air does not harm the body, the person can “revive” and his heart beats after the oxygen supply is restored.
“One such story is told by the 19th-century French physiologist Paul Bera. He experimented with sparrows placed under a glass bell. According to one of his descriptions, there was a situation when the sparrow stopped suffering and hurried to teach a lesson. As the bird lay motionless for a long time with its legs up, it took off its hat and began entering data into the protocol. At that moment, the sparrow took a breath of air and flew away,” Vetosh explained.
What are the alternatives?
In total, in the United States (more precisely, in individual states), five methods of depriving a person of life by court decision are allowed: hanging, shooting, electric chair, gas chamber and lethal injection. Nitrogen mask will be the sixth method. At the same time, hanging and shooting have long been discontinued, while electrocution and lethal injection are still practiced.
“People suffer greatly when an electric chair is used. He urinates and defecates, vomits, experiences severe contractions, and this situation can last for a long time. When executed, the torment is also very long. Only in movies it is shown that a bullet hits the head and the person immediately falls. In fact, following the injury, he may be in severe pain for a day before dying,” Vetosh said.
Administration by injection is significantly less painful. Typically a combination of three drugs is used for injection: sodium thiopental for anesthesia, pancuronium bromide to paralyze the muscles needed to breathe, and high doses of potassium chloride to induce cardiac arrest. But lethal injection is relatively expensive; Moreover, many pharmaceutical companies refuse to supply their ingredients to prisons in order not to tarnish their image.
same problem there is with injection equipment. In this regard, the USA decided to resort to a new method, although it has been known by science for a very long time.
“This is truly the gentlest method of killing a person and also involves a phase of euphoria and then the person appears to fall asleep. Then, small contractions occur in the body and the muscles completely relax,” said Professor Vetosh.
Finally, everyone can wear a breathing mask, regardless of the condition of their veins and skin. Exceptions, such as severe damage to the lower part of the face, are very rare.