The Alabama Supreme Court has authorized state officials to proceed with what would be the first execution of a prisoner in the United States by asphyxiation with nitrogen gas.
In August, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, asked the court to allow the state to proceed with gassing Kenneth Smith, convicted of murder in 1996, using a face mask connected to a nitrogen cylinder meant to deprive him of oxygen. .
Smith, 58, is one of only two people alive in the United States to have survived an attempted execution after Alabama thwarted his previously scheduled execution by lethal injection in November when multiple attempts to insert an IV into a woman failed. come to.
Smith’s lawyers have said the untested gassing protocol may violate the U.S. Constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” and have argued that a second attempt to execute him by any method is unconstitutional.
They also told the court that Smith had not yet exhausted his appeals.
Kenneth Smith, 58, is one of only two people alive in the United States to have survived an attempted execution. Alabama Department of Corrections
In a brief order issued Wednesday, the court, whose justices are all Republicans, said Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, must set a date for the state Department of Corrections to execute Smith.
Two justices dissented from the order and one recused himself.
A spokesman for Ivey said his office had not yet determined a date.
A Department of Corrections spokesperson said the department is “prepared to carry out the court’s orders.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn