Entries tagged with “Nitrogen Gas”
Methods of Execution
,Jun 11, 2026
Alabama Federal Judges Block State from Using Nitrogen Gas to Execute Jeffery Lee
[Update 9:17pm ET, June 11, 2026: The U.S. Supreme Court denied Alabama’s appeal. Mr. Lee’s execution will not proceed as scheduled.] On June 9, 2026, an Alabama federal district judge “permanently enjoined” state officials from using nitrogen gas to execute death-sentenced prisoner Jeffery Lee after finding that the state’s nitrogen execution protocol violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Judge Emily Marks issued her ruling after the U.S. Court of…
Methods of Execution
,Religion
,May 28, 2026
DPI Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Naomi Yavneh Klos on Gas Executions, Holocaust Memory, and Common Ground
In the May 2026 episode of 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Dr. Naomi Yavneh Klos (pictured), Dean of the Honors College at the University of New Mexico, and a prominent scholar of the Holocaust. Dr. Yavneh Klos is a founding member of the Jews Against Gassing Coalition, a New-Orleans area group formed to oppose the use of nitrogen gas as a method of execution in Louisiana. She joins DPI’s podcast during Jewish American Heritage Month to…
Methods of Execution
,Religion
,May 28, 2026
Naomi Yavneh Klos on Gas Executions, Holocaust Memory, and Common Ground
In the May 2026 episode of 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Dr. Naomi Yavneh Klos, Dean of the Honors College at the University of New Mexico, and a prominent scholar of the Holocaust. Dr. Yavneh Klos is a founding member of the Jews Against Gassing Coalition, a New-Orleans area group formed to oppose the use of nitrogen gas as a method of execution in Louisiana. She joins DPI’s podcast during Jewish American Heritage Month to discuss the…
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
Religion
,Mar 24, 2025
Four Executions in Three Days Spotlight Constitutional Concerns About Death Penalty
In a three-day span from March 18 to March 20, four men were executed in four different states. Two of the men put to death, in Louisiana and Arizona, were the first executed in their state in years. While the close timing of the executions resulted from independent state-level decisions and individualized legal developments rather than any coordinated national effort, all four executions raised serious constitutional concerns. March 18: Jessie Hoffman (LA) On March 18, Louisiana executed…
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
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…