Kenneth Smith’s execution condemned with 43 more death row in

Kenneth Smith’s nitrogen execution called ‘troubling’ by White House: Updates

Attorney General Steve Marshall said that after Thursday night, ‘nitrogen hypoxia as a means of…

The Independent

Witness Reverend Jeff Hood told reporters he saw a man ‘struggling for their life’ for 22 minutes as Smith became the first US death row inmate executed by nitrogen asphyxia

By Alisha Rahaman Sarkar,Rachel Sharp,Michelle Del Rey,Mike Bedigan

Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith has been executed by nitrogen gas – making him the first person in US history to be put to death through the controversial method.

Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8.25pm CT on Thursday at the William C Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, almost three decades after he was convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire plot of Elizabeth Sennett.

His religious adviser Reverend Jeff Hood, who witnessed the execution, told reporters what he saw was a man “struggling for their life” for a staggering 22 minutes.

Alabama authorities insist the execution went to plan, despite predicting the untested method would lead to unconsciousness within seconds and death in minutes.

But, witnesses said Smith appeared conscious for several minutes, shaking and writhing on the gurney.