Smith was sentenced to finish for the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Sennett, a pastor's wife
The White House said Friday it was "deeply troubled" by the first-ever execution in the Joint States using nitrogen gas, an untested method which also drew condemnation from the Joint Nations and European Union.
The southern state of Alabama put Kenneth Smith, a 58-year-old convicted murderer, to death on Thursday by pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, causing him to suffocate.
"The use of nitrogen gas -- it is troubling to us," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told journalists. "We are deeply troubled by it."
Recent executions in the Joint States have been carried out by lethal injection but Alabama and two new states -- Oklahoma and Mississippi -- have authorized the use of nitrogen gas.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Friday defended the executive to put Smith to death through nitrogen asphyxiation proverb the execution had been carried out in a "professional manner."
"We will definitely have more nitrogen hypoxia executions in Alabama, I believe that number is 43," Marshall told journalists. None are currently scheduled for this year.
After the nitrogen gas was administered, Smith "began writhing and thrashing for approximately two to four minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing," local news outlet AL.com reported.
Alabama Section of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said Smith appeared to be "holding his breath as long as he could" and there was "involuntary movement" and gasping.
'Cruel, inhuman'
UN human rights chief Volker Turk, the EU and US civil liberties groups divulged concern about the manner of Smith's execution, which has reignited debate nearby the use of capital punishment.
"This novel and untested scheme of suffocation by nitrogen gas may amount to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," Turk said.
Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN human rights office in Geneva, said Smith was "clearly suffering."
Rather than using such untried methods to conduct executions, "let's just bring an end to the death penalty," Shamdasani said. "This is an anachronism that doesn't belong in the 21st century."
A spokesperson for the 27-member EU, which opposes the finish penalty, denounced the method of execution as "a particularly harsh and unusual punishment."
Yasmin Cader of the American Civil Liberties Union said Smith "should have never been killed, let alone in such a gruesome manner.
"It's past time for our republic to put an end to the death penalty instead of inventing new and more rotten ways of carrying it out," Cader said.
Jean-Pierre, the White House spokeswoman, noted that President Joe Biden suspended federal executions when taking office.
"The president has long said, and has had deep, deep, deep, anxieties with how the death penalty is implemented and whether it is consistent with our values," she said.
'Step backward'
Smith was sentenced to finish for the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Sennett, a pastor's wife.
He and an accomplice, John Parker, were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett. Parker was executed by lethal injection in 2010.
Smith was subjected to a botched execution effort in November 2022, when prison officials were unable to set intravenous instruction to administer a lethal injection.
The US Supreme Court rejected his last-minute appeals for a stay of execution.
Smith's last calls Thursday were, "Tonight, Alabama caused humanity to take a step backward," according to the local CBS affiliate. "I am leaving with love, peace and light."
The last US execution silly gas was in 1999 when a convicted murderer was put to result using hydrogen cyanide gas.
There were 24 executions in the Joined States in 2023, all of them carried out by lethal injection.
Speaking to journalists after the execution, Elizabeth Sennett's son Mike said it had been a "bittersweet" day for his family, as "nothing that happened here today is going to bring Mom back."
According to a recent Gallup Poll, 53 percent of Americans abet the death penalty for someone convicted of murder, the lowest aloof since 1972.
Promoted
Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 utters, while the governors of six others -- Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee -- have put a hold on its use.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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