On Jan. 25 in Alabama, Eugene Smith became the first person to be executed by a new experimental method, nitrogen hypoxia. They tied him down on a chair, put a mask over his nose and mouth, and he was forced to inhale the nitrogen gas. It took 22 minutes for him to suffocate and flatline.  

When breathing in the nitrogen, it deprives the person of oxygen needed to be able to function.  

“For at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints,” AP News comments, “That was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing, until breathing was no longer perceptible.”  

Smith was a murder-for-hire and in 1988, he was hired to kill 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett. He served 36 years in prison for her murder, and they attempted to execute him in 2022 through lethal injection. However, they could not connect the IV line, so they could not execute him.  

They decided to use Smith as the tester for this new experimental method. Lethal injections is the most commonly used method for executions, but the drugs needed are increasingly harder to find.  

While the state of Alabama finds this new method quick and relatively painless, there are many ethical concerns. The State Attorney said it was a painless procedure and Smith would lose consciousness after 30 seconds.  

Rev. Jeff Hood, the spiritual advisor to Smith, comments, “We didn’t see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds,” he notes. “What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life.”   

Since it is a new means of punishment, there are concerns about how the process will go wrong. His attorneys made the argument that using Smith as a lab rat for this new method could result in cruel and unusual punishment, violating his constitutional rights. 

The American Veterinary Medical Association prohibits the use of nitrogen hypoxia to euthanize animals (or other mammals) because they find it to be “distressing” and dangerous for the people around.  

An anesthesiologist, Dr. Joel Zivot, said there is a possibility of seizures or choking on their vomit. “A leak will do two things. It will potentially endanger people around. Air could then get under the mask as well,” Zivot said. “And so the execution could be prolonged or maybe he might never die, he just could get injured.”  

There is a lot of unanswered questions about the nitrogen gas and the process. Abigail Brooks and Erik Ortiz, NBC reporters write, “Other details, including who is supplying the nitrogen gas and the mask, how the gas is generally being stored and what safety training the prison staff has undergone, remains unclear.”  

After the botched lethal injection, Smith chose to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia. However, there was still a fear of something going wrong similar to the lethal injection or something completely different as they were in uncharted waters.  

Before the mask was placed over his face, his last words were: “Tonight Alabama caused humanity to take a step backward. I’m leaving with love, peace and light. Thank you for supporting me. Love all of you.”