Alabama is one step closer to carrying out the first execution by nitrogen hypoxia, an untested execution method that has attracted controversy since it was approved in the state in 2018.
On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the execution of 58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith could go forward later this month, dismissing arguments that the execution would make him a "test subject" in an unproven execution method. The move appears to be a last-ditch effort to halt Smith's death, as Smith's lawyers had previously fought to allow him to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia instead of lethal injection.
