How death row inmate Kenneth Smith survived botched execution before ‘writhing in pain’ for minutes in grisly new method
DEATH row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith writhed for minutes in his final moments as he was executed with deadly nitrogen gas.
Kenneth, 58, was becoming part of a morbid history as the first man in the US to be executed using nitrogen gas on January 25, 2024 in Alabama.
Two years earlier, Kenneth had survived a botched execution attempt via lethal injection that left him unable to walk or use his arms.
Abe Bonowitz from DeathPenaltyAction blasted the “cruel” method in an exclusive interview with The Sun.
Abe said that no care is given to the prisoners in their final moments.
Kenneth was sentenced to death after he carried out the contract killing of of Elizabeth Sennett in Colbert County, Alabama.
The murder was orchestrated by her husband Charles Sennett Sr.
A week after Elizabeth’s murder, Charles Sennett Sr. killed himself when he learned he was a suspect in the murder.
Kenneth was recruited for the killing by Billy Gray Williams, the man who Charles had initially hired to do the job.
Kenneth carried out the murder along with John Forrest Parker, and the pair stabbed Elizabeth to death.
Billy Gray Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and died in prison in November 2020, whilst John Forrest Parker was executed via lethal injection in June 2010.
Critics argue that the nitrogen gas method is inhumane and brutal, whilst those in favour say that it delivers the appropriate amount of criminal justice.
Death penalty debates are nothing new, but one more sinister form of execution has caused a storm of controversy in the US.
In the state, death row inmates can choose to be executed with nitrogen gas if they don’t want the standard lethal injection method.
Execution via nitrogen gas results in death by suffocation as a result of the individual being forced to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving the brain and body of oxygen.
While nitrogen accounts for nearly 78 per cent of the air humans breathe, when inhaled on its own, nitrogen is deadly.
According to Alabama’s heavily redacted nitrogen hypoxia protocol, members of the execution team are to place a mask over the prisoner’s face.
The gas will be pumped into the mask, which can take several minutes to kill and leave people in extreme agony as it slowly suffocates them.
A MORBID MILESTONE
The nitrogen gas method has only been used in the country a select few times.
Kenneth was the first, and he was left thrashing violently for an agonising 25 minutes in Alabama.
He was convicted in 1989 of murdering a preacher’s wife, Elizabeth Sennett, in a killing-for-hire.
In his final words, he said: Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards.
“Thank you for supporting me. Love all of you.”
After the gas began to flow into his mask, the inmate is said to have smiled, nodded toward his family and signed “I love you”.
Witnesses said at the time how Kenneth laid in the gurney with a slight incline, with his arms extended out.
He was strapped down in two places, one strap around his stomach, and another around his upper chest.
It was also noted that Kenneth appeared to hold his breath for as long as he could before the inevitable happened and he began to gradually die.
Attorney General Steve Marshall said it had proved to be “an effective and humane method of execution”, refuting the “dire predictions” of activists and the media.
“Justice has been served,” his statement added.
A YEAR ON
After a year of campaigning, the death penalty gotten worse and even more inhumane, a campaigner has told The Sun.
Abe Bonowitz is a member of DeathPenaltyAction, a group dedicated to raising awareness about the brutality of the death penalty.
Abe said: “Things are worse. They have done two more such executions, and the courts have refused to conduct a proper review of whether the suffering caused by gas executions is a violation of our constitutional prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment.
“In the most recent one, attorneys tried to have the killing video taped so the courts could watch, and that was refused.
“But the witnesses always talk about how horrific it appears – except of course the government witnesses.
“To them it works just fine, because in 15-20 minutes the prisoner is dead.
“They don’t care about the terror of conscious suffocation that they are imposing on a human being.
“Also, while we stopped legislation to allow gas suffocation executions in Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio, Louisiana passed its bill and the possibility of gas executions exists in that state.
“We know legislators in some states will try again to pass such bills in 2025.”
He went on to say that Smith’s death raised media attention because he was the first to be killed with the gas.
Abe continued: “We did for Kenny what we do in every case, but because of the gas there was far greater participation and media coverage.
“Of course, because we worked closely with Kenny’s Spiritual Advisor who was the closest civilian to witness the execution, we made sure he had strong support and we managed a press conference in a nearby hotel immediately following the execution.”
“I used to be right there with you, until I actually studied the issue and came to understand that everything I thought I knew about the death penalty was wrong.
“Unless your motivation is vengeance and to ensure suffering by those convicted of murder, then there is no valid reason to support capital punishment.
“For us, the issue is not really about what method we use to kill our prisoners.
“The problem is that we allow the government to kill prisoners when the system is as broken as it is.
“The actual execution is the end of a very long and torturous process. Life on death row is torture.
“Truly, the terror of the death penalty is present from the moment a police officer or a prosecutor tells a prisoner, ‘You are going to fry for this.'”
BOTCHED EXECUTION
One of the reasons why nitrogen gas executions remain so controversial, despite the the argued lack of humanity, is how they have been botched in the past.
Kenneth’s death was the first of its kind in the US, and with it, came several terrifying complications that made his final moments alive completely agonising.
Kenneth was meant to be executed on November 17, 2022, by lethal injection, but an unsuccessful attempt kept him on death row until January 25, 2024.
On the night of November 17, Kenneth had issued a motion to stay his execution, which imposes a a halt on court proceedings.
This can be put in place for a variety of reasons.
Kenneth spoke to his wife at 7.57pm that night, and then two minutes later at 7.59pm, the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay of execution.
Smith’s lawyers immediately provided to the Alabama Department of Corrections, who did not inform Kenneth or allow him to speak to his lawyers.
The execution team then had issue with the injection, as Kenneth told them that they were inserting the needle into his muscle, not his vein.
Despite his objection, another individual began repeatedly stabbing Smith’s collarbone with a needle, attempting to place a central IV line.
This, however, was ignored and a lawyer for the Alabama Department of Corrections emailed Smith’s lawyers to let them know they were preparing him for execution.
The results were unsuccessful, and Kenneth was left unable to walk or lift his arms, as well as sweating profusely.
Afterwards the Supreme Court rejected Kenneth’s request for a stay of execution.
He was put to death by nitrogen gas despite the United Nations expressing concern that nitrogen gas execution might lead to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture.”
Kenneth’s lawyers also failed to convince the Supreme Court that a second execution was unconstitutional because he had survived the first.
As the debate over the ethics of this execution method continued, Alan Smith, 59, became the second person to die as a result of the gas.
He was similarly seen shaking and trembling as he died at an Alabama prison on September 26 2024.
Alan was also seen pulling at his restraints before he stopped moving.
He was convicted of shooting dead Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Lee Jarvis in the city of Pelham, Alabama, in August 1999.
Third man executed by nitrogen gas
Carey Dale Grayson, 50, was the third man to be executed via nitrogen gas onm November 21, 2024, following the murder of a hitchhiker in Alabama 30 years ago.
In 1994, he and three teenage friends killed and later mutilated Vickie DeBlieux, 37, as she hitchhiked through the state on the way to her mother’s home in Louisiana.
As nitrogen began to flow, the murderer rocked his head and shook before telling the prison warden: “You need to f*** off”.
He could also be seen pointing his middle finger towards witnesses.
The murderer could be seen convulsing and gasping for air as the gas was pumped into his mask.
He could also be seen thrashing and shaking his head from left to right.
Attorney John Palombi said: “I would submit to the court that being conscious and being suffocated for a period of time constitutes terror that is superadded to this protocol that does not have to be there, as acknowledged by the fact that the state is willing to, if he requests it, give Mr. Grayson a sedative.”
Robert Overing, Alabama’s deputy solicitor general, disagreed with the attorney.
He argued: “This is really apples and oranges, trying to use the term “suffocation” to evoke a fear and pain that doesn’t exist with this method.”
Grayson was denied his request for a sedative before being put to death
In his final words, Miller said: “I didn’t do anything to be in here.”
He also asked his family and friends to “take care” of someone, but the individual’s name was not clear because his voice was muffled by a gas mask covering his face.
ALABAMA KILLS
Alabama is one of the few US states that carry out the death penalty.
As of January 2025, Alabama had 158 inmates on death row, the 4th highest number in the US.
Alabama has the highest per capita capital sentencing rate in the United States.
In some years, its courts impose more death sentences than Texas, a state that has a population five times as large.
The method of execution is lethal injection, unless the condemned requests electrocution or nitrogen hypoxia.
If the selected method is found unconstitutional, state statutes provide the use of “any constitutional method of execution”.
This would likely include hanging, the gas chamber or firing squad.