When Louisiana legislators approved the use of nitrogen gas asphyxiation as an execution method during a second special legislative session in February, the move attracted national attention; not the least because it has only been used in the U.S. once. That’s when Alabama executed convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith on January 25th of this year. Now there’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430.
Molly Ryan with Louisiana Public Radio reports that lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Judiciary B, unanimously advanced SB430 to remove gassing, better known lately as nitrogen hypoxia, from the list of execution methods allowed under state law. Lawmakers had just added that method, along with electrocution, with House Bill 6. State legislators approved HB6 at the end of the special session, on February 29th and it was signed into law by Governor Jeff Landry on March 5th. HB6 does not become effective until July 1.
Three members of the Senate Committee voted for that original measure but did not object to the advancement of SB430. They include Senate Committee Chair Mike Reese, R-Leesville, Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, and Jean-Paul Coussan, R-Lafayette. Louisiana State Senator Katrina R. Jackson-Andrews, D-Monroe, brought SB430 at the request of an advocacy group called Jews Against Gassing Coalition. In a news conference on the steps of the state capitol, the group thanked the committee and urged lawmakers to get the bill to the finish line.
According to a report by the Louisiana Illuminator on Tuesday, Aaron Bloch, a representative of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans was careful to point out, “We do not suggest comparisons to the atrocities of Nazi Germany under which millions of our relatives were murdered [gassing of Jews during the Holocaust].…Still, we cannot imagine it possible that Jewish communities anywhere could stand by while prisoners are executed in our names using any variation of that mechanism.”
During the execution procedure through nitrogen hypoxia, pure nitrogen is pumped into a mask worn by the inmate, and death comes from asphyxiation by the prolonged absence of oxygen. Authorities in Alabama had touted nitrogen hypoxia as a humane method of execution because it is supposed to be painless, possibly even mildly euphoric. The reality proved to be far different.
Marty Roney’s report in the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper stated that from:
7:57 to 8:01 p.m.: “Smith writhed and convulsed on the gurney. He appeared to be fully conscious when the gas began to flow. He took deep breaths, his body shaking violently...Smith clenched his fists, his legs shook…He seemed to be gasping for air.
8:06 p.m.: “Smith’s gasping appeared to slow down.”
8:07 p.m.: “Smith appeared to take his last breath.”
8:15 p.m.: “The curtains to the witness room were closed.”
In a report released five days after Smith’s execution by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations, UN experts condemned Smith’s execution as, “nothing short of State-sanctioned torture. The experts stated, “We call for a ban on this method of execution,” describing it as a violation of international law.
