What was intended to be a quick and peaceful end to the life of a condemned murderer turned out to be a harrowing 22-minute ordeal in an Alabama prison Thursday night.
Kenneth Eugene Smith shook, writhed and thrashed on the stretcher for two minutes after the nitrogen gas began filling his mask.
Five to seven minutes of heavy breathing and light panting followed.
Overall, Smith, 58, was visibly conscious and struggled with unimaginable pain for nearly 10 minutes before his breathing slowly stopped at 8:08 p.m.
The curtains closed at 8:15 p.m. and he was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m.
State officials had produced document after document to convince the public and the courts that Smith's asphyxiation using nitrogen gas would be quick and painless.
The reality was not like that. His wife cried in the audience and a correctional officer had to look over at his dying face to see if he still looked alive.
Kenneth Eugene Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 after admitting to the contract killing of a pastor's wife, who was beaten and stabbed to death in 1988. On Thursday evening he became the first person in US history to be executed with nitrogen gas
In previous court filings, lawyers suggested he would lose consciousness seconds after the gas began escaping – but witnesses say that was far from the case.
And despite promises that the mask would be airtight to prevent extra oxygen from entering and prolonging the pain, witnesses said they heard gas escaping from the mask during his agonizing suffocation process.
The mask, described as looking like one a firefighter would wear, had never been placed on Smith's face until the moment he was strapped to the stretcher.
Smith then had to say his final words through the gas mask before the 100 percent nitrogen was blown through the wire.
His last words were: “Tonight, Alabama is causing humanity to go backwards.” I leave with love, peace and light. Thanks for the support. Love you all.'
Many have wondered how this so-called peaceful execution went wrong.
Smith was a “guinea pig” to test a method of execution that had never been tried before.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor said it was reckless considering Smith's first attempt at the death penalty also failed in 2022 when IV administrators couldn't find a vein for his lethal injection.
While some have pointed out that the mask was not fitted properly on Thursday, proponents of the method say the suffering was partly Smith's fault.
They claimed he held his breath for too long before finally inhaling the nitrogen.
John Hamm, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, said, “It seemed like Smith had been holding his breath for as long as he could. “So it was nothing out of the ordinary for what we expected.”
Hamm said of Smith's movements on the stretcher, “This was all to be expected and was due to the side effects we have seen or researched with nitrogen hypoxia.”
Four of Smith's witnesses sat in the audience watching his final, painful moments – his wife, his son, his lawyer and a friend.
Smith was 22 years old (seen in his original 1989 mugshot) when he was first arrested for the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Sennett. His conviction was overturned before he was sentenced to death in a separate trial for the same murder in 1996
The killer was wearing his wedding ring when he died in an Alabama prison.
Before the procedure, he signed “I love you” to his family with his left hand.
His spiritual advisor, the Rev. Jeff Hood, touched Smith's feet with a Bible before the gas was administered at 7:58 p.m. Hood described the 22 minutes as a “horror show.”
His wife, wearing a T-shirt that read “Never Alone,” screamed at one point during the execution, AL.com reports.
A corrections officer in the execution chamber leaned over Smith and examined his face at 8:01 p.m. before returning to his post.
Earlier in the evening, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, citing experts including euthanasia expert Dr. Philip Nitschke that nitrogen hypoxia is a “peaceful” way to end a human life.
Nitschke had testified for Smith's legal team, which claimed the danger was that the gas was administered through a mask.
In rebuttal, Marshall said the state's mask had been checked and was tight enough to ensure oxygen wouldn't get in, dragging out the process.
This was not the case. It took 22 minutes for the gas to kill Smith, and witnesses heard gas leaking from the so-called “airtight” device.
The moment was the “worst thing” spiritual leader Jeff Hood said he had ever seen, claiming prison officials gasped in shock during Smith's 22-minute ordeal on the stretcher.
“When they turned on the nitrogen, he started convulsing, he kept jumping on the stretcher and shaking the whole stretcher,” Hood said.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 for the contract killing of a preacher's wife in 1988, only being paid $1,000 for the murder.
Jeff Hood, Smith's spiritual advisor before his execution, described the untested method of execution as a “horror show,” adding, “Tonight, incredible evil was unleashed in Alabama.”
Smith's pastor John Ewell told before his execution that the killer was “really struggling with the reality of his impending death” and officials said he had his last meal consisting of a T-bone steak, hash browns, eggs and A1 sauce, barely touched Waffle House.
Hood was one of the few people who witnessed the historic execution, and he noted that the device used to kill Smith resembled a “fireman's mask.”
After praying with the killer and telling him that he “loved him and was not alone,” Hood broke down as he recounted the “horror show” of Smith's final moments.
“I could see the correctional officers, I think they were very surprised that this didn't go smoothly – one of the state officers in the room was so nervous that she was tap dancing,” he continued.
“(Smith) may have continued to breathe for up to nine, 10 minutes, incredible evil was unleashed in Alabama tonight.”
Hood's claims that Smith's execution was a “horror show” directly contradict the narrative of Alabama officials, who hailed it as a step forward for safe death row justice as an “effective and humane method of execution.”
Elizabeth Sennett, 45, (right) was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the couple's home in Colbert County, Alabama. She had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck
The historic execution divided opinion, including among Supreme Court justices, who voted 6-3 to allow the procedure to be carried out using the untested method previously labeled “torture” by the United Nations.
Smith's execution was the first time a new method had been used on America's death row since lethal injections were introduced 42 years ago.
But one of the main reasons Alabama resorted to nitrogen gas in Smith's execution was the widespread difficulty American prisons have had in obtaining lethal injections in recent years.
Thursday's execution raises the possibility that nitrogen hypoxia could be used in upcoming executions. The Alabama Attorney General's Office said after Smith's death that the method “was intended to be, and has now been proven to be, an effective and humane method of execution.”
Alabama officials' apparent victory lap after the execution – Gov. Kay Ivey also called it “conclusion” – sparked backlash from opponents of the new approach.
Maya Foa, director of the human rights organization Reprieve, told : “They said lethal injections were humane – that was a lie.” They will claim this execution was humane and that is a lie too.
Elizabeth Sennett, 45, was murdered by Smith and another man in 1989 after her husband paid them $1,000 each to kill her so he could collect on her insurance
“The whole purpose of these methods is to hide pain.” How many more prisoners must die a painful death before we see executions for what they really are: the state violently taking a human life?
Amid reports of Smith struggling and writhing on the stretcher, John Q. Hamm, head of the Alabama prison system, claimed that it appeared Smith was holding his breath for as long as possible.
Smith's legal team said in a statement that it was “deeply saddened” that his execution had taken place and argued it was a miscarriage of justice because a jury initially voted to reject the death penalty, but a judge overruled their decision have.
“Nothing can undo the tragic consequences of the acts for which he was convicted, including the pain of Sennett’s family and friends,” the statement said.
“However, Kenny’s life should be viewed in its entire context.”
Before his latest appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court, Smith's pastor told he had “great hope that this thing will be stopped” – after his previously scheduled execution in November 2022, after hours of painful attempts to stop the execution. had been canceled inject him with an IV.
After the botched execution in 2022, Smith requested that his subsequent execution be carried out using nitrogen hypoxia – in an apparent gamble that officials would not comply with using the untested method.
As he “struggled” to accept his fate, the Alabama Department of Corrections said Smith's final day began with him refusing a breakfast of eggs, cookies, grape jelly, applesauce and orange juice.
He was then given a lunch tray but again declined it, despite drinking Mountain Dew, Pepsi and coffee.
Smith was ordered to consume only clear liquids starting at 4 p.m. after barely touching his last meal, which came from Waffle House and was slathered in A1 steak sauce.
His final phone call was with his wife Deanna Smith, who was among the few witnesses to the execution, including Smith's sons Steven Tiggleman and Michael Bryant, his friend Harold Hedgepeth and attorney Robert Glass.
Also in attendance were the sons of his victim, Elizabeth Sennett, who told 1819 News they wanted to watch to ensure the 35-year case of their mother's killer was “over.”
Mike Sennet said at a news conference after the execution: “Nothing happened here today that could bring Mom back.”
“We’re glad this is over,” he continued. “Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett received justice this evening.”
Smith, 22, was one of two men convicted of the contract killing of Elizabeth Sennett, 45, the wife of preacher Charles Sennet Sr., who had hired the men to kill his wife in an insurance plot.
His original 1989 conviction was overturned on appeal, but he was retried and resentenced in 1996 and sentenced to death.
Prosecutors said he and John Forrest Parker each received $1,000 for the hit, with Sennett's husband hoping to claim their insurance because he was deeply in debt.
She was found dead in her Colbert County home on March 18, 1988, with eight stab wounds to her chest and one on each side of her neck.
After Charles Sennett Sr. found out that he was suspected of being involved in the conspiracy, he took his own life.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says the execution was gentler than Smith deserves
The controversial execution was praised by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey following news of Smith's death, believing it served justice for Sennett's murder.
Ivey said in a statement: “After more than 30 years and one attempt after another to game the system, Mr. Smith has answered for his terrible crimes.”
“I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can experience separation after all the years they have struggled with this great loss.”
Despite warnings from human rights groups against using the method, AG Marshall insisted Smith's fears were unfounded.
However, in the dissenting opinion approving the execution by the Supreme Court just hours before Smith's death, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that she found the method of execution cruel.
Sotomayor considered Smith a “surprising candidate” for the untested method – his previously scheduled execution in November 2022 was canceled after hours of painful attempts to inject him with an IV.
Smith recalled being in “a lot of pain” because those tasked with injecting the deadly drugs – midazolam hydrochloride, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride – stabbed his muscle instead of finding a vein.
Smith has since said that the incessant stabbings became so ridiculous that they became a farce, particularly when one of the executioners finally asked Smith to squeeze his hand to make the vein more prominent – a request Smith refused.
Unable to find a second usable vein, Smith's gurney was tilted so his feet were facing up. He suspected this was an attempt to get blood to his head and leave a more prominent vein in his neck.
He stood for a few minutes before the IV returned with an even larger needle to try to attach a so-called central venous catheter, which is much longer than a normal intravenous line and extends to a vein near or inside the heart.
Smith reported that after several attempts to successfully use the larger needle, this pain became so unbearable that he trembled and became wet.