‘Horror Show, Like Fish Out of Water’: Priest to Man Who Was Executed with Nitrogen on Death of Killer

Reverend Jeff Hood, who was the spiritual advisor to Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, the first man in the US to be executed with nitrogen gas, said prison staff on Thursday were unable to mask their shock. He described the event as a ‘horror show’ as Smith writhed about and appeared like a fish outside water.

“There was clear shock and surprise on their faces. They were told this is going to be quick, easy and painless. They kept saying this is the most humane way society has ever figured out how to execute people,” Hood was quoted as saying by the New York Post. He said it took 22 minutes for Kenneth E Smith to die. He was executed at Alabama’s WC Holman Correctional Facility.

“The whole thing was just horrific. It’s a scene that will never leave me. Some of [Smith’s] struggles looked produced for Hollywood,” the reverend said. He said that the setting looked like it was a movie set. “(It was) some sort of horrible creation gone amok,” he further added.

The capital punishment using nitrogen gas meted out to Kenneth Eugene Smith, sentenced to death for the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Sennett, a pastor’s wife, sparked outrage. The European Union, United Nations and the White House expressed concern over the use of nitrogen gas.

After the nitrogen gas was administered, Smith “began writhing and thrashing for approximately two to four minutes, followed by around five minutes of heavy breathing,” according to a separate report by local news media outlet AL.com.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk, the European Union (EU) and US civil liberties groups expressed concern about the manner of Smith’s execution. “This novel and untested method of suffocation by nitrogen gas may amount to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” Turk said.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN human rights office in Geneva, said: “Let’s just bring an end to the death penalty. This is an anachronism that doesn’t belong in the 21st century.”

“(It was) a particularly cruel and unusual punishment,” a spokesperson from the EU said.

“The use of nitrogen gas — it is troubling to us,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “We are deeply troubled by it.”

’Like a Fish Out of Water’

Several states in the US recently carried out executions using lethal injection but Alabama and two other states — Oklahoma and Mississippi — have authorised the use of nitrogen gas. Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall on Friday defended the decision to put Smith to death through nitrogen asphyxiation. “(The execution has been carried out in a) professional manner. We will definitely have more nitrogen hypoxia executions in Alabama, I believe that number is 43,” Marshall said.

Smith’s case garnered national attention after he was subjected to a botched execution attempt in November 2022, when prison officials were unable to set intravenous lines to administer a lethal injection.

Reverend Hood said he had a bird’s-eye view of the prison staffers overseeing Smith’s execution. He said there was sudden change in the facial expressions and body language of the staff led by Alabama Department of Corrections Regional Director Cynthia Stewart-Riley.

“He looked like a fish out of water, flapping over and over again. As all of that happened, Stewart-Riley was behind the gurney to his right. She was so disturbed and nervous that she kept tapping her feet over and over again,” he said.

“In that circumstance it’s hard to know what is what, but I know what I saw in terms of the horror on the faces of people in front of me,” the priest told the New York Post.

The Associated Press in a separate report said that Smith was conscious for several minutes during the more than 20 minute execution period.