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International Business Times
International Business Times
Marvie Basilan

Alabama Executes Hitman Kenneth Smith In US' First Known Nitrogen Gas Punishment

Kenneth Smith Alabama Elizabeth Sennett John Hamm The United States
The execution bed sits empty on Death Row April 25, 1997 at Texas Death Row in Huntsville, Texas. (Credit: Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/Liaison)

KEY POINTS

  • Media witnesses said Smith shook for several minutes
  • Alabama's corrections commissioner said the side effects Smith experienced were all expected
  • Smith's legal team had challenged the method due to no documented evidence of its effects

The state of Alabama on Thursday night executed hitman Kenneth Smith, marking the United States' first known case of a death row inmate being put to death by nitrogen gas.

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