WALA ATMORE, AL – Thursday marked Kenneth Eugene Smith’s long-awaited execution by the state of Alabama. Smith was found guilty in 1988 of killing a preacher’s wife for pay.
The time of death, according to officials, was 8:25 p.m.
The method used to carry out the execution, known as nitrogen hypoxia, which involved covering the prisoner’s face with a mask to replace the oxygen he was breathing with the lethal gas, garnered criticism from throughout the world.
It was the procedure that Smith personally suggested after objecting to lethal injections after an unsuccessful effort to carry out that form of execution in 2022. Prison officials had difficulties getting into his veins, so they decided to postpone it.
“The execution was lawfully carried out by nitrogen hypoxia, the method previously requested by Mr. Smith as an alternative to lethal injection,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. “At long last, Mr. Smith got what he asked for, and this case can finally be put to rest.”
The Lee Hedgepeth, Smith’s spiritual adviser who was with him until the end, expressed horror after witnessing the execution. He said it fell well short of the quick, painless experience that state officials promised.
“I think that anybody that witnessed this knows that we didn’t see someone go unconscious in two or three seconds,” he said at a news conference. “What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life. We saw minutes of someone heaving back and forth. We saw spit. We saw all sorts of stuff from his mouth develop on the mask. We saw this mask tied to the gurney and him ripping his head forward over and over and over again. “
Lee Hedgepeth, an independent journalist, said this was the fifth Alabama execution he has witnessed.
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