US state of Alabama executes death row prisoner using nitrogen gas in controversial first

The southern US state of Alabama on Thursday put to death a convicted murderer using nitrogen gas, the first time the controversial method criticized by human rights advocates has been used in the country.

Kenneth Eugene Smith was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. on Thursday evening, the state attorney general says.

“Justice has been served. Tonight, Kenneth Smith was put to death for the heinous act he committed over 35 years ago,” the statement by Attorney General Steve Marshall says.

Smith, 58, was on death row for more than three decades after being convicted of the 1988 murder-for-hire of a pastor’s wife.

He was put to death at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia, which involved pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, causing him to suffocate.

According to media witnesses, he “began writhing and thrashing for approximately two to four minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing,” local news outlet AL.com reports.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm told reporters that it appeared Smith was “holding his breath as long as he could” and that there was “involuntary movement” and gasping, which was “expected.”

The curtain over the media witness room opened at 7:53 pm, AL.com says, with Smith pronounced dead less than 35 minutes later.