Entries tagged with “Kenneth Smith”
What to Know Series
,Jul 29, 2026
What to Know: Sentencing Practices and the Death Penalty
Why it matters: State laws permitting judges to override jury decisions and the imposition of death sentences based on non-unanimous jury verdicts have contributed to Alabama and Florida’s high death sentencing rates — with nearly 20% of Alabama’s death-sentenced population on death row because of judicial override. Between 1976 and 2017, elected Alabama judges overrode jury sentencing decisions 112 times. In 91% of those cases, judges overruled jury decisions of life to impose death sentences.
Methods of Execution
,Dec 12, 2025
Should Medical Research Regulations and Informed Consent Principles Apply to States’ Use of Experimental Execution Methods?
New drugs and medical treatments undergo rigorous testing to ensure they are safe and effective for public use. Under federal and state regulations, this testing typically involves clinical trials with human subjects, who face significant health and safety risks as the first people exposed to experimental treatments. That is why the law requires them to be fully informed of the potential effects and give their voluntary consent to participate in trials. Yet these regulations have not been…
Executions
Conditions on Death Row
,Botched Executions
,Nov 20, 2025
Spared at the “Last Minute”: A Form of Psychological Torture?
Tremane Wood was scheduled to die at 10 a.m. local time on November 13. According to journalist Hilary Andersson, who traveled to Oklahoma to observe the execution, the call from the governor came at 9:59 a.m. Mr. Wood learned that his life would be spared at the literal “last minute.” While Mr. Wood, his attorneys, and his family experienced overwhelming relief in the aftermath of the clemency grant, according to Ms. Andersson, some also expressed shock at the timing of the decision. Mr.
Methods of Execution
,Oct 27, 2025
Alabama Execution Witnesses Report “Violent Thrashing” of Prisoner and More Than 225 “Agonized Breaths” in Nitrogen Gas Execution
On October 23, 2025, Alabama executed Anthony Boyd, despite his unwavering claim of innocence and a fiery dissent authored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, renewing the serious concerns that have been consistently raised about the state’s use of nitrogen gas. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissented from the Court’s October 23, 2025, denial of a stay of execution, writing that Alabama’s use of nitrogen gas “violates the Constitution by inflicting…
Methods of Execution
,Oct 21, 2025
Despite Serious Concerns about Trial’s Fairness and Anthony Boyd’s Innocence, Alabama Plans to Execute Him Using Nitrogen Gas
Anthony Boyd is scheduled to be executed in Alabama on October 23, 2025, for his role in the 1993 kidnapping and murder of Gregory “New York” Huguley. Mr. Boyd was convicted based solely on eyewitness testimony with no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and he has maintained his innocence. Alabama will execute Mr. Boyd using nitrogen gas, the seventh time state has used this controversial method since January 2024, when the state executed Kenneth Smith in the first-ever execution of…
Botched Executions
,May 22, 2025
“Violent” Movements During Indiana Execution Raise Unanswered Questions
Benjamin Ritchie’s execution in Indiana on May 20, 2025, has raised new concerns about the use of pentobarbital after defense counsel reported their client displayed an unusual physical reaction after being injected with the drug. But because Indiana officials bar media witnesses from observing executions, the public has no independent witness reports on what transpired. Steve Schutte, an attorney for Mr. Ritchie, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that Mr. Ritchie made what appeared to be…
Issues
Methods of Execution
,Mar 12, 2024
Three Largest Nitrogen Gas Manufacturers in the U.S. Prohibit Products from Use in Executions
As more states consider nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, three of the largest manufacturers in the U.S. have barred their products intended for life-saving measures from use in executions. “Airgas has not, and will not, supply nitrogen or other inert gases to induce hypoxia for the purpose of human execution,” the company, which is owned by the French multinational Air Liquid, announced following Oklahoma’s addition of nitrogen hypoxia to their execution protocol in 2015. The European…
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Feb 08, 2024
Past to Present: 100 Years Since the United States’ First Lethal Gas Execution, a Recently Renewed Practice
Today, February 8, marks the 100-year anniversary of the first lethal gas execution in the United States, exactly two weeks after Alabama carried out the first execution using nitrogen gas. On February 8, 1924, Nevada executed Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of killing the owner of a laundromat, using cyanide gas. A fellow prisoner, Thomas Russell, was also scheduled to be executed the same day but was resentenced to life by the Board of Pardons and Parole the previous evening. The gas…
Research
Methods of Execution
,Feb 02, 2024
Ohio Officials Divided on Death Penalty as Attorney General Pushes New Bill to Legalize Nitrogen Hypoxia for Executions
On Tuesday, January 30, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced new legislation to authorize the use of nitrogen gas in executions in the state. Joined by several Republican state representatives and Louis Tobin of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, AG Yost said that he is seeking to “kickstart” Ohio’s death penalty after a six-year pause in executions due to difficulties obtaining lethal injection drugs. “The status quo is unacceptable,” he said. According to the text of the…
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Jan 26, 2024
“The World is Watching”: Witnesses Report Kenneth Smith Appeared Conscious, “Shook and Writhed” During First-Ever Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution
On January 25, 2024, Alabama executed Kenneth Smith using nitrogen hypoxia, a first in American history. Though state attorneys had assured courts that the method would cause “unconsciousness in seconds,” witnesses reported that Mr. Smith appeared awake for several minutes after the nitrogen gas began. They observed that he “shook and writhed” for at least four minutes before breathing heavily for another few minutes. “This was the fifth execution that I’ve witnessed in Alabama, and I have…
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Jan 11, 2024
Federal Judge’s Ruling Will Permit Alabama to Execute Kenneth Smith Using Nitrogen Gas
On January 10, 2024, U.S. District Judge Austin Huffaker denied Kenneth “Kenny” Smith’s challenge to Alabama’s intended use of nitrogen gas to execute him. Although Mr. Smith plans to appeal, the ruling currently authorizes Alabama to use its new, untested method of nitrogen hypoxia to execute Mr. Smith on January 25. Mr. Smith’s case is unusual in several respects. First, he has already survived one execution attempt, which left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a clinical…
Executions
Executions Overview
,Methods of Execution
,Nov 13, 2023
Alabama Schedules A Second Execution for Kenneth Smith, Using Nitrogen Gas for the First Time in U.S. History
On November 8, 2023, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey scheduled an execution date for Kenneth Smith, marking the first attempt by a U.S. state to use nitrogen gas in an execution. Mr. Smith was convicted of the 1988 murder-for-hire death of Elizabeth Sennett in Jefferson County, Alabama and has been on death row for nearly 34 years. Following the state Supreme Court’s 6 – 2 decision greenlighting Attorney General Steve Marshall’s request for an execution warrant, Gov. Ivey set a 32-hour execution date…
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Oct 24, 2023
Use of Nitrogen Hypoxia for Alabama Executions Could Endanger Spiritual Advisors and Prison Staff in the Execution Chamber
In August 2023, Alabama released the first-ever execution protocol for nitrogen hypoxia, an untested execution method in which prisoners will be put to death by suffocation as they are forced to breathe pure nitrogen gas. Alabama’s heavily redacted protocol provides that prisoners will be fitted with a mask and breathing tube to control the gas, which will slowly deprive them of oxygen. However, use of this untested method may also pose dangers to spiritual advisors and prison staff in the…
Executions
Executions Overview
,Methods of Execution
,Aug 28, 2023
Alabama Attorney General Seeks Execution with Unprecedented, Untested Method Using Nitrogen Hypoxia
On August 25, 2023, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the state Supreme Court to set a date for Kenneth Smith to be executed using nitrogen hypoxia, a method that has never been used in any state. The decision to use this method comes after Alabama botched several executions. Since 2018, when Alabama initially authorized the use of nitrogen hypoxia in capital punishment, the state has been working to establish a protocol for executions using this method. Alabama initially authorized…
Executions
Jul 27, 2023
Alabama executes James Barber as SCOTUS denies a stay
On July 21, 2023, Alabama death row prisoner James Barber was executed two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his motion for a stay in a 6 – 3 decision. This marks the state’s first execution since a series of three botched executions in 2022 and an internal investigation into the Alabama Department of Corrections’ (ADOC) execution protocol. Mr. Barber’s lawyers initially requested discovery into ADOC’s internal review but were denied. They subsequently filed a motion to stay the…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Jan 18, 2023
Kenneth Smith Describes Alabama’s Failed Attempt to Execute Him
Alabama death-row prisoner Kenneth Smith spent four hours on November 17, 2022 strapped to an execution gurney while state prosecutors attempted to lift a stay of execution issued by a federal appeals court and his execution team repeatedly failed in attempts to set the intravenous execution line intended to kill him. He was left strapped to the gurney after prison officials called off the botched execution, unaware that he was not to be put to death that night. These revelations, and more…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Dec 15, 2022
Alabama Governor Asks State Supreme Court for More Time to Carry Out Executions
As part of her response to a series of botched executions, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has sent a letter to the Alabama Supreme Court asking it to allow the Department of Corrections to extend the time within which executions can be carried out. Governor Ivey’s letter follows her November announcement of a “top-to-bottom review” of the state’s execution procedures. The letter offered no explanation of the execution teams’ length delays in placing IV lines, nor has Governor Ivey made any public…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Dec 09, 2022
Alabama Attorney General: “There Is No Moratorium” On the Death Penalty
During a December 5, 2022 press conference, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (pictured) discussed the state’s review of its lethal injection process, rejecting the media’s characterization of it as a “moratorium” on executions and urging that the review be carried out quickly. Governor Kay Ivey announced a “top-to-bottom review” of the state’s execution protocol on November 21, 2022, after two executions in a two-month period had to be called off when executioner were unable to set…
Research
Botched Executions
,Dec 07, 2022
As Lethal Injection Turns Forty, States Botch a Record Number of Executions
On December 7, 1982, Texas strapped Charles Brooks to a gurney, inserted an intravenous line into his arm, and injected a lethal dose of sodium thiopental into his veins, launching the lethal-injection era of American executions. In the precisely forty years since, U.S. states and the federal government have put 1377 prisoners to death by some version of the method. Touted as swift and painless and a more humane way to die — just as execution proponents had said nearly a century before about…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Nov 30, 2022
Alabama Drops Lethal Injection for Alan Miller, But May Attempt Execution With Nitrogen Gas
Alabama officials have agreed not to make a second attempt to execute Alan Miller by lethal injection after the state had to call off his September 22, 2022 execution because of the failure to establish an IV line. If the state seeks to execute Miller in the future, it will use nitrogen hypoxia, a method that has never been used for an execution. In the months since Miller’s execution attempt, Alabama also attempted and failed to execute Kenneth Smith. In response to the series of problems…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Nov 23, 2022
Alabama Governor Halts Executions After Latest in Series of Execution Failures
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (pictured) has halted executions and ordered a “top-to-bottom review” of the state’s execution procedures, five days after failures by corrections personnel to establish an intravenous execution line caused Alabama to call off the November 17, 2022 execution of Kenneth Smith. The botched execution of Smith marked the third time since 2018 and the second time in two months that Alabama had called off an execution in process. In addition, on July 28, 2022, executioners…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Nov 18, 2022
After U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Lethal Injection Stay, Alabama Tries and Fails to Execute Kenneth Eugene Smith
Kenneth Eugene Smith’s November 17 execution was halted after Alabama officials spent an hour trying to set intravenous lines for the lethal injection drugs. Earlier that evening, Smith’s execution had been stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, but the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the stay over the dissent of three justices. The setting of IV lines has been an issue in all 3 executions attempted by Alabama this year, including the botched execution of Joe Nathan James and…
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,Nov 14, 2022
Week of Four Scheduled Executions Highlights Continued Concerns With the Use of the Death Penalty
The four executions scheduled for the week of November 17th highlight current trends in executions and death sentencing and the continued use of the death penalty against vulnerable populations. The prisoners scheduled to be executed by four states have raised a number of issues, including prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, discrimination against Black jurors, judicial override of jury decisionmaking, serious mental illness, and brain damage. Stephen Barbee (Texas…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Oct 19, 2022
Alan Miller Asks Federal Court to Bar Alabama from Second Attempt to Execute Him By Lethal Injection
Alan Eugene Miller has asked federal courts to bar Alabama from setting a second execution date days after the Alabama Attorney General’s office filed a motion in the state’s Supreme Court to expedite a new execution warrant. The state attempted to execute Miller on September 22, 2022, but called off the execution after failing to establish an intravenous (IV) line. On October 4, 2022, the Alabama Attorney General’s office filed an expedited motion in the Alabama Supreme Court asking the court…
Issues
Oct 06, 2022
Alabama Schedules Execution of Death-Row Prisoner Whose Jurors Voted 11 – 1 for Life
Alabama has set a November 17, 2022 execution date for a death-row prisoner whose jury voted 11 – 1 to spare his life. On September 30, 2022, barely a week after the botched attempted lethal injection of Alan Miller, the Alabama Supreme Court granted a motion by state prosecutors to issue a death warrant for Kenneth Smith. Smith, now 57, was sentenced to death in 1996 when his trial judge overrode the jury’s near-unanimous recommendation for a life sentence. At the time, Alabama was one of only…
Issues
Foreign Nationals
,Apr 12, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of April 5, 2021
NEWS (4/8/21) — Nevada: The Nevada Supreme Court has granted capital defendant Wilber Ernesto Martinez-Guzman’s emergency motion to stay a premature deadline the trial court had set for his lawyers to file a claim that he is ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability. A trial court in Reno had set an April 20 deadline for Martinez-Guzman, four months earlier than the time allotted under Nevada law, which permits a defendant to file up to ten days before the scheduled…