Kenneth Smithâs execution âhistoricâ achievement for Alabama: Marshall
Alabama “achieved something historic” when it executed Kenneth Eugene Smith using a method never before used in the country, the state’s attorney general said.
“Alabama has achieved something historic. Like most states, Alabama has made the judgment that some crimes are so horrific that they warrant the ultimate penalty,” Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement shortly after Smith was executed by nitrogen hypoxia Thursday night for the murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in 1988.
Marshall then claimed the execution was implemented without problems, proving wrong the anti-death-penalty advocates who asserted nitrogen hypoxia was dangerous because and inhumane.
Meanwhile, media witnesses said they saw Smith struggle as the gas began flowing into the mask that covered his entire face. He began writhing and thrashing for approximately two to four minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing.
Anti-death-penalty activists, Marshall said, “have worked to nullify [Alabama’s] moral judgment through pressure campaigns against anyone assisting states in the process.
“They don’t care that Alabama’s new method is humane and effective, because they know it is also easy to carry out,” he said. Despite the international effort by activists to undermine and disparage our state’s justice system and to deny justice to the victims of heinous murders, our proven method offers a blueprint for other states and a warning to those who would contemplate shedding innocent blood. This is an important night for Liz Sennett’s family, for justice, and for the rule of law in our great nation.”
Smith, who was declared dead at 8:25 p.m. CST, had been on death row more than three decades for participating in the murder-for-hire plot of Sennett in her home in Colbert County in 1988. Sennett was a pastor’s wife who was beaten and stabbed. Smith confessed to his role in the crime after the slaying, and court records show he was paid about $1,000 for killing Elizabeth Sennett.
Smith’s lawyers unsuccessfully asked for a stay of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court, which also denied a review of the case, allowing the execution to proceed.
Marshall said the execution showed “that the dire predictions of activists and the media were as speculative as Smith’s claims.”