Catholic Group Expresses Concern Over Alabama’s Untested New Execution Method

[Michie]

A lay Catholic community dedicated to peace efforts has expressed concern about an execution scheduled in Alabama for Jan. 25, set to be carried out using a relatively untested method called nitrogen hypoxia.

The Community of Sant’Egidio, a group founded in Rome and known for mediating conflicts worldwide, shared a petition Jan. 23 urging Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to halt the execution of convicted murderer Kenneth “Kenny” Eugene Smith.

Smith is scheduled to die Thursday after being convicted for the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, whom Sennett’s husband, a Protestant pastor, had paid Smith to kill. The state of Alabama attempted in November 2022 to execute Smith by way of lethal injection but postponed his execution after an attempt to administer the injection was unsuccessful.

Sant’Egidio, which has advocated for many years for an end to the death penalty, says that Smith will be the first person in the world to be executed using nitrogen hypoxia, which involves the fitting of a mask over the condemned person’s face and pure nitrogen — a normally harmless gas — being pumped through it, leading to suffocation.

Continued below.

Catholic Group Expresses Concern Over Alabama’s Untested New Execution Method

Smith is scheduled to die Thursday after being convicted for the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, whom Sennett’s husband, a Protestant pastor, had paid Smith to kill.

www.ncregister.com

 

[zippy2006]

Lol... I find these nuanced arguments about the manner of execution so bizarre and disingenuous. People literally take the FDA mindset (which legally applies to executions!) that says any publicly administered drug needs to be safe. But there's that tiny little fact in the fine print: the drug is being used to kill someone! It's like, "Well but what if this new technique isn't safe?" Then the person will die, which is the whole point. Or maybe they will feel a smidgen of pain, which is also perfectly acceptable given their sentence. (Of course these methods have been tested on animals and are meant to cause the least pain possible, which I think is entirely unnecessary.)

These Catholics think the death penalty is inadmissible, and that's fine. But it's disingenuous to oppose the execution in such a bizarre, underhanded manner. There is nothing "inhumane" about this. Smith will lose consciousness and never wake up. "Well this is the first time, so maybe something super bad is going to happen!," is unscientific, politically-motivated drivel. The real problem for abolitionists is that if this method works as the evidence predicts, it will make executions more palatable and less subject to passionate rhetoric.

 

[Michie]

Alabama carries out first known nitrogen gas execution

After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal by death-row inmate Kenneth Smith, the state of Alabama carried out the first-ever nitrogen gas execution. Smith faced the death penalty for his conviction in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett.

www.oursundayvisitor.com

 

[Michie]

The Wrath of God and the Death Penalty: On Blessings and Prudence

While sexual immorality no longer requires the civil punishment of death, such natural-moral-law violations still bring spiritual death to the souls of those who willingly engage in it.

crisismagazine.com