The White House called Alabama’s use of nitrogen hypoxia to execute a prisoner Thursday night “troubling,” noting that President Biden has long had “deep concerns” with how the death penalty is implemented (article available here).
Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was executed Thursday night using nitrogen gas, the first known instance in the world that method was used to execute a prisoner, an untested procedure which lawyers had argued amounted to a form of cruel and unusual punishment banned under the US constitution.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that reports of Smith’s execution were “troubling to us as an administration.” She added that it underscored why Biden supported Attorney General Merrick Garland’s 2021 moratorium on federal executions, pending a review of death penalty policy changes made during the Trump administration.
According to media witnesses Thursday, Smith appeared conscious for at least two minutes while the gas flowed to his mask. He shook and writhed for at least two minutes on the gurney, and this was followed by two minutes of deep breaths and then a period of time during which media witnesses were unable to determine whether he was breathing.