A week before a man in the US state of Alabama is scheduled to be executed using a new method, his lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court to intervene.
This emerges from documents published by the Supreme Court. In it, the lawyers argue that there are too many unanswered questions to execute the convict at this point. It is completely unclear whether the Supreme Court will take up the matter.
Human rights experts warn
Kenneth Eugene Smith, sentenced to death for a 1988 contract killing, is scheduled to die on January 25 using so-called nitrogen hypoxia. In this type of execution, a person is given nitrogen via a face mask – the result is death from lack of oxygen. No death sentence has ever been carried out in this way in the USA. According to a spokeswoman, the UN Human Rights Office is not aware of any other such cases. The method is used on animals.
Human rights experts from the United Nations and Amnesty International warn of a potentially gruesome death that could even resemble torture. There is no scientific evidence that inhalation of pure nitrogen does not cause serious suffering.
Executions by lethal injection
Smith’s lawyers have so far appealed in vain. In their petition to the highest authority in the country, they are now arguing with the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments.” Central to their argument is the fact that Smith should be executed by lethal injection as early as 2022.
However, the prison staff were unable to insert the necessary cannula into his arm. The 58-year-old was brought back to his cell after several hours in which he lay strapped to an execution table. That same year, two other executions by lethal injection failed in Alabama.
