this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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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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[–] [email protected] 68 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We should not be executing anyone. Hypoxia is well documented so he would not exactly be a test subject.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Note: if I were to commit medically induced suicide it would be by nitrogen hypoxia. By alla counts it is the best way to go.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The test is not of the efficacy of hypoxia, but of the state's competency.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 year ago (23 children)

You know you live in a third world country if you have discussions about how to kill your citizens. There is no need for the death penalty but a twisted and false sense of justice.

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 year ago

America is so fucking stuck in stone age, it's schocking at times!

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (6 children)

The state should never execute anyone because it implies two things that aren't true:

  1. That the system is infallible.
  2. That a person doesn't have the capacity to improve/rehabilitate.

That being said. I'll take this method over any other for sure.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (20 children)

It's way better than an electric chair.

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[–] gears 35 points 1 year ago (6 children)

This is interesting, and I personally feel he is fighting it only because it buys him more time. In a different article (linked in this one), where they announce Alabama's plan to use nitrogen it says:

Smith, in seeking to block the state’s second attempt to execute him by lethal injection, had argued that nitrogen should be available.

So he literally asked to use nitrogen, they said "ok" and now's he's saying "how dare you try to use me as a guinea pig"

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Shocking news: man on death row does not want to die.

More at 11.

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[–] xmunk 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A glib reply would be "What's the worst that could happen?, they'd die?" but a far worse outcome is that they remain conscious but in constant pain for an unnecessarily long time. I'm personally against execution of any form but if it's going to be done let's make sure it's humane.

[–] funkless_eck 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)

well what you describe is how Normal executions go. Doctors won't do it so it's done by prison guards with no medical training and is often so disgusting the witnesses need counseling

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I support giving convicts with death sentences the right to choose the means (within reason). Nitrogen hypoxia is probably more humane than most of the methods we've tried, although I personally prefer bringing back the guillotine. If we're willing to kill a man for justice, we ought be willing to reject childish euphemisms (putting him to sleep) and make a bloody mess of it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

make a bloody mess of it

Personally I've been advocating for the "shitload of explosives" method. It doesn't get much more humane than being blown to a red mist in milliseconds, and the audience would love it.

Medicalized death sentences like the lethal injection seriously creep me out. Even a murderer deserves to face death with dignity, not strapped to a table and injected with poison.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Alabama really shows itself to be one of the most savage states when it comes to their treatment of prisoners. Fucking monsters.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Last time a new method of execution was made, lethal injection, it was developed by a veterinarian who vaguely described how it might work and then it was administered by non-physicians because no doctor would ever touch this. I wonder who developed this new method.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

Actually it's pretty well understood.
The human body reacts to CO2 buildup with a 'gasping for air' sensation. Nitrogen however, not at all. The air we breathe is 80% nitrogen 20% oxygen, so we aren't sensitive to nitrogen at all. Breathing air with little oxygen is something well understood as it can happen to pilots of unpressurized aircraft. Here's a funny example of what happens when pressurization fails. Once ATC figures out he has hypoxia, they order him to descend to 11,000' (which is usually the point hypoxia starts to kick in) and he's fine. But while he's hypoxic, he happily admits he has no control over his airplane and is totally unbothered by that fact.
There's a thing called a hypoxia chamber- the oxygen % of the air is reduced (not eliminated) to simulate what it's like being at high altitude without pressurization. Always funny videos there, grown men with oxygen-starved brains playing with a children's puzzle trying to put the square block in the round hole.

Execution by 100% nitrogen is the most humane death I can think of. The gas is odorless, and as it takes effect the prisoner would experience a euphoric feeling before just falling asleep and dying a few minutes later.

That said, I'm sure they'll fuck this up somehow- most civilized people have concluded that execution is barbaric and unnecessary, so whoever builds the nitrogen gadget is probably not going to be the sharpest tool in the shed.

And that's what a botched execution would look like- if you shut off the nitrogen too soon or don't ensure a high enough nitrogen concentration, the prisoner will be left with brain damage but not dead.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (23 children)

I'll take it if he doesn't want it.

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