What was meant to be a swift and peaceful end to a death row murder’s life turned out to be an excruciating 22-minute ordeal in an Alabama prison on Thursday night.
Kenneth Eugene Smith was shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.
This was followed by five to seven minutes of heavy breathing and slight gasping.
In total, Smith, 58, was visibly conscious and struggling in unthinkable pain for nearly 10 minutes before his breathing seemed to slowly stop at 8.08pm.
The viewing curtains closed at 8.15pm and he was pronounced dead at 8.25pm.
State officials had produced documents upon documents convincing the public and courts that suffocating Smith via nitrogen gas would be quick and painless.
The reality was not that. His wife was crying out in the viewing room, and a correction officer had to peep over to his dying face to see if he still looked alive.
Kenneth Eugene Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 after admitting the murder-for-hire killing of a pastor’s wife who was beaten and stabbed in 1988. On Thursday evening, he became the first person in US history to be executed with nitrogen gas
In prior court filings, attorneys expected him to lose consciousness seconds after the gas began to flow – but witnesses say this was far from the case.
And despite promises that the mask would be airtight to stop additional oxygen coming in and prolonging the pain, witnesses said that they could hear gas coming out of the mask during his agonizing suffocation.
The mask – described as looking like one that a firefighter would use – had never been fitted to Smith’s face until the moment he was strapped down to the gurney.
Smith was then also made to say his final words through the gas mask before the 100 percent nitrogen was blasted through its wire.
His final words were: ‘Tonight, Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. I’m leaving with love, peace, and light. Thank you for supporting me. Love all of you.’
Many have questioned how this so-called peaceful execution went wrong.
Smith was a ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said was reckless considering Smith’s first try at capital punishment was also botched in 2022, when IV administrators couldn’t find a vein for his lethal injection.
While some have pointed fault towards the mask not being fitted properly on Thursday, advocates for the method say that the suffering was partially Smith’s fault.
He held on to his breath for too long before finally inhaling the nitrogen, they claim.
Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said: ‘It appeared Smith was holding his breath as long as he could. So nothing was out of the ordinary for what we were expecting.’
Hamm said of Smith’s movements on the gurney: ‘That was all expected and was in the side effects that we’ve seen or researched on nitrogen hypoxia.’
Four of Smith’s witnesses sat in the viewing room watching his final, painful moments – his wife, his son, his lawyer and a friend.
Smith was 22-yars-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 for the same murder at a separate trial in 1996
The killer was wearing his wedding ring when he died in the Alabama prison.
He signed ‘I love you’ with his left hand to his family before the proceeding.
His spiritual advisor Rev. Jeff Hood touched Smith’s feet with a Bible before the gas was administered at 7.58pm. Hood described the 22 minutes as a ‘horror show.’
His wife, wearing a shirt which read ‘Never Alone,’ cried out at one point during the execution, reports AL.com.
A correctional officer in the execution chamber leaned over Smith at 8.01pm – examining his face, before stepping back to his post.
Earlier in the evening, quoting experts including euthanasia expert Dr. Philip Nitschke, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said nitrogen hypoxia is a ‘peaceful’ way to end a human life.
Nitschke had testified for Smith’s legal team, who claimed the risks lay in the gas being administered through a mask.
In rebuttal, Marshall said the state’s mask has been inspected and is tight enough to ensure no oxygen leaks in and prolongs the proceedings.
This was not the case. It took 22 minutes for the gas to kill Smith and witnesses heard gas coming out of the so-called ‘airtight’ contraption.
The moment was the ‘worst thing’ spiritual guider Jeff Hood said he had ever seen, claiming prison officials gasped in shock throughout Smith’s 22-minute ordeal on the gurney.
‘When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,’ Hood said.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife in 1988, where he was paid just $1,000 for the hit.
Jeff Hood, Smith’s spiritual advisor before his execution, described the untested execution method as a ‘horror show’, adding: ‘unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama’
Alabama’s lethal injection chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., is pictured in this Oct. 7, 2002 file photo, where Smith was executed Thursday evening
Smith’s pastor John Ewell told DailyMail.com before his execution that the killer was ‘really struggling’ with the reality of his imminent death, and officials said he barely touched his final meal of a T-bone steak, hashbrowns, eggs and A1 Sauce from Waffle House.
Hood was one of the few people to witness the historic execution, and he noted that the contraption used to kill Smith resembled a ‘firefighters mask.’
After praying with the murderer and telling him that he ‘loved him and he wasn’t alone’, Hood broke down as he recounted the ‘horror show’ of Smith’s final moments.
‘I could see the corrections officers, I think they were very surprised that this didn’t go smoothly – one of the state officials in the room was so nervous she was tap dancing,’ he continued.
‘(Smith) kept breathing for what could possibly be up to nine minutes, ten minutes, unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama.’
Hood’s claims of Smith’s execution being a ‘horror show’ directly oppose the narrative put out by Alabama officials, who praised 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 Alabama’s Colbert County. She had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of neck
The historic execution divided opinions, including among Supreme Court justices who voted 6-3 to allow the procedure to go ahead, with the untested method previously branded ‘torture’ by the UN.
Smith’s execution marked the first time a new method had been used on America’s death row since lethal injections were first introduced 42 years ago.
But one of the primary reasons Alabama has turned to nitrogen gas for Smith’s execution has been the widespread struggles American prisons have had in obtaining lethal injection drugs in recent years.
Thursday’s execution opens up the possibility nitrogen hypoxia could be used in upcoming executions, with the Alabama Attorney General’s office saying after Smith’s death the method ‘was intended to be – and has now proved to be – an effective and humane method of execution.’
The apparent victory lap taken by Alabama officials in the wake of the execution – with Governor Kay Ivey also dubbing it ‘closure’ – sparked backlash from opponents of the new approach.
Maya Foa, director of human rights organization Reprieve, told DailyMail.com: ‘They said lethal injection was humane – that was a lie. They’ll 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 each $1,000 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 agonizing deaths 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 gurney, Alabama’s prison system’s commissioner John Q. Hamm claimed it looked like 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 went ahead, arguing it was a miscarriage of justice because a jury had initially voted to reject the death penalty, but a judge overrode their decision.
‘Nothing can undo the tragic consequences of the actions for which he was convicted, including the pain of the Sennett family and friends,’ the statement read.
‘Kenny’s life, however, should be considered in its full context.’
Before his final appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court, Smith’s pastor told DailyMail.com he was ‘putting a lot of hope into this thing being stopped’ – after his previous scheduled execution in November 2022 was called off after painful hours of botched attempts to inject him with an IV line.
Following the failed execution in 2022, Smith sought his subsequent execution to be carried out via nitrogen hypoxia – in an apparent gamble that officials wouldn’t follow through with 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, biscuits, grape jelly, apple sauce and orange juice.
He then received a tray for lunch but again refused it, although he did drink Mountain Dew, Pepsi and coffee.
Smith was ordered to have only clear liquids from 4pm, after barely touching his final meal, which came from Waffle House slathered in A1 steak sauce.
His last phone call was with his wife, Deanna Smith, who was among the few witnesses to the execution, also including Smith’s sons, Steven Tiggleman and Michael Bryant, his friend Harold Hedgepeth, and attorney Robert Glass.
Also in attendance was the sons of his victim, Elizabeth Sennett, who told 1819 News that they wanted to watch to make sure the 35-year case of their mother’s killer is ‘over with.’
Mike Sennet said at a press conference following the execution: ‘Nothing happened here today that’s gonna bring mom back.’
‘We’re glad this is over,’ he continued. ‘Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett got her justice tonight.’
Aged 22, Smith was one of two men convicted in the murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett, 45, the wife of preacher Charles Sennet Sr. who hired the men kill his wife in an insurance plot.
His initial 1989 conviction was overturned on appeal, but he was retried and convicted again in 1996, where he was sentenced to death.
Prosecutors said he and John Forrest Parker were each paid $1,000 for the hit, with Sennett’s husband hoping to collect on her insurance as he was deeply in debt.
She was found dead March 18, 1988, in her home in Colbert County with eight stab wounds in the chest and one on each side of her neck.
After finding out that he was suspected of being involved in the plot, Charles Sennett Sr. killed himself.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says the execution is more gentle than Smith deserves
The controversial execution was praised by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey following news of Smith’s death, feeling it was justice served for Sennett’s murder.
Ivey said in a statement: ‘After more than 30 years and attempt after attempt to game the system, Mr. Smith has answered for his horrendous crimes.
‘I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can receive closure after all these years dealing with that great loss.’
Despite warnings from human rights groups over the use of the method, AG Marshall insisted that Smith’s fears are unfounded.
However, in the dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court’s approval of the execution hours before Smith’s death, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that she felt the execution method was cruel.
Sotomayor felt Smith was a ‘surprising candidate’ for the untested method – with his previous scheduled execution in November 2022 called off after painful hours of botched attempts to inject him with an IV line.
Smith recalled being in ‘great pain’ because those tasked with injecting the lethal drugs – midazolam hydrochloride, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride – were stabbing his muscle rather than finding a vein.
Smith has since said that the ceaseless jabs became so ridiculous they turned into farce, especially when one of the executioners eventually asked Smith to squeeze his hand to make the vein stand out better – a request Smith declined.
Unable to find a second usable vein, Smith’s gurney was tilted so that his feet were pointed upwards in what he presumed was an attempt to get blood to his head and leave a vein in his neck more pronounced.
He was left for several minutes before the IV returned with an even larger needle in an attempt to attach a so-called central line (or central venous catheter) which is much longer than a regular intravenous line and goes all the way up to a vein near or inside the heart.
Smith reported that this pain became so excruciating after multiple attempts to use the larger needle successfully that he was shaking and wet himself.