1y ago

Alabama inmate opposes being ‘test subject’ for new nitrogen execution method

apnews.com Alabama inmate opposes being 'test subject' for new nitrogen execution method

Attorneys for an inmate are asking the Alabama Supreme Court to reject the state's request to set an execution date for him using the new execution method of nitrogen hypoxia.

An Alabama inmate would be the test subject for the “experimental” execution method of nitrogen hypoxia, his lawyers argued, as they asked judges to deny the state’s request to carry out his death sentence using the new method.

In a Friday court filing, attorneys for Kenneth Eugene Smith asked the Alabama Supreme Court to reject the state attorney general’s request to set an execution date for Smith using the proposed new execution method. Nitrogen gas is authorized as an execution method in three states but it has never been used to put an inmate to death.

Smith’s attorneys argued the state has disclosed little information about how nitrogen executions would work, releasing only a redacted copy of the proposed protocol.

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178 comments

It's way better than an electric chair.
- Moat likely, but since qualified people don't participate in executions it will probably end up being done wrong and he will suffocate to death with carbon dioxide and suffer horribly in a different way.
  
  Unlikely, unless the nitrogen flow rate is way too low. Even then, it would take a considerable amount of time.
  
  They keep fucking up injections, do you think they are going to get airflow stuff right?
  
  Should just be opening a valve. There's no mixture to get right like with the injection. Just 100% nitrogen.
  
  You would think so, but the people who are fucking up injections are making even more basic mistakes than the amount of chemicals. They are extremely likely to mess up the seals, the equipment that has the valve, and a ton of other steps that would make the process work successfully.
  One third of executions in 2022 were botched. Why would a new method have a higher success rate?
  
  Why would you assume a new method would have the exact same success rate as different methods?
  
  Because I assume the same incompetent people will be trying something new and therefore more likely to fuck it up.
  
  Heuristics sure are fun. Unfortunately they are often wrong and thinking things out is better. Maybe don't broadcast strong opinions for things you don't know anything about. It's a lonely life here on Lemmy but there are other ways to get attention and validation than instantiating some opinion that you've held long enough to type it out.
  
  Because it's extremely simple.
  You can still think executions are wrong without making up nonsense to justify it.

178 comments