Alabama carried out the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia on the evening of Jan. 25.
Kenneth Eugene Smith was sentenced to death for the murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in March of 1988.
“The execution was lawfully carried out by nitrogen hypoxia, the method previously requested by Mr. Smith as an alternative to lethal injection,” said Governor Kay Ivey in a statement, per WVTM13. “At long last, Mr. Smith got what he asked for, and this case can finally be put to rest.”
“I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can receive closure after all these years dealing with that great loss,” the governor added.
Sennett’s husband, Reverand Charles Sennett, hired his tenant Billy Gray Williams to kill his wife. Williams then hired Smith and John Forrest Parker for $1,000 each to carry out the murder. The reverend was in debt and allegedly wanted to collect Sennett’s life insurance money. He shot himself in his son’s backyard before charges could be brought against him.
“Parker and Smith hit [Sennett] with a galvanized pipe and stabbed her while she pled with them not to hurt her,” Clark Prosecutors stated in a summary of the attack. “Consistent with their plan, they broke the glass in the medicine cabinet and took a stereo and video cassette recorder (VCR) to make the assault look like it was done during a burglary.”
Ronnie May, the lead investigator on the case who eventually became the Colbert County Sheriff, described the murder as “horrific” and said Sennett “fought it and she fought hard.”
“You feel for the victim and what they went through — and the horror she went through in her last minutes,” May told AL.com in 2010.
A jury initially returned a verdict of life in prison without the possibility of parole for Parker, but a trial judge sentenced him to death for his crime. Parker was executed in June of 2010. His last words were directed to Sennett’s two sons – “I'm sorry. I don't ever expect you to forgive me. I really am sorry.”
Smith’s initial execution date was scheduled for Nov. 17, 2022, but the lethal injection was called off at 11:21 P.M. after prison officials failed to find a vein to insert a required second intravenous line. Governor Ivey enacted a three-month moratorium on all executions pending an internal review because of the incident.
In the lead-up to his initial execution, Smith and his legal team repeatedly appealed his case. The United States Supreme Court issued and lifted a stay of execution in the final hours before the scheduled execution. The inmate had argued there would be problems finding veins suitable for the IV line and that, as a result, he would suffer “superadded pain as the execution team attempts to gain IV access.”
His team argued that “Alabama’s lethal injection protocol violated the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment” and that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) “violated his due process rights under the 14th Amendment because it did not give him the information necessary to knowingly waive his right to choose execution by nitrogen hypoxia instead of lethal injection when inmates had the opportunity to make that choice in 2018,” per AL.com.
Alabama is one of three states that allows nitrogen hypoxia execution, but the method has never been employed before.
Although he ultimately asked for the nitrogen hypoxia option, Smith subsequently sued the ADOC and argued the gas-based execution came with too many risks that could result in stroke or brain damage. Judge R. Austin Huffaker of the U.S. District Court in Montgomery ruled on Jan. 10 that Smith “is not guaranteed a painless death” and “was not shown the current Protocol is sure or very likely to cause substantial risk of serious harm or superadded pain.”
The United States Supreme Court also ruled that Alabama could move forward with the execution on Jan. 24 and denied his final appeal on Jan. 25 around 6:50 p.m.
“Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. ... I’m leaving with love, peace and light,” said Smith while making his final statements. To his family who were present to witness his execution, he said “Thank you for supporting me. Love, love all of you.”
The execution took approximately 22 minutes. According to WVTM 13, “Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes” and for “at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints. That was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing, until breathing was no longer perceptible."
Smith's time of death was 8:52 p.m.
