Absolutely appalled by Kenneth Eugene Smith's execution

[Haunting10]

Appalled is too soft a word. I feel physically sick and angry.

What a sick world we live in.

I am against the death penalty. One person wrongly convicted and sentenced to death is too many. This particular case sounds like torture, and to use what the Nazis used on millions, its just disturbing on so many levels.

I keep thinking about it. But what can we do? I'm in UK, and expect any activism will be happening in US.

What will happen to the state of Alabama? Surely something must be done. This was not human.

You really think it's OK to kill people in cold blood solely because they are extremely ill? That is revolting.

I can think of many things to feel physically sick and angry about, the execution of a violent brutal murderer who took an innocent life ain't one them, I'm afaid

If someone killed my children ill happily watch them get punished.

To me, it seems that there is a rule that society must/ should live by. You shall not kill. Even though I'm not, and never have been, religious, I've often thought that the 10 commandments are pretty good rules to live by.

if it's wrong that a killer kills, surely it's wrong that a state kills?

I agree OP. I have mixed feelings about the death penalty but this was completely barbaric. If Dignitas has access to drugs which bring about a quick death then why can’t they be used here? Or some of the other methods mentioned already?

And it's worth noting that Pierrepoint ultimately came out firmly against the death penalty.

I think people often forget the prison staff that have to administer the death in all this. Even though it is their job they have effectively tortured someone to death and now have to live with that for the rest of their lives.

It’s not just about the murderer himself, there are other consequences of killing someone’s this way.

Id*

We don't know what it was like

We know exactly what it was like. There were five different reporters and a priest who witnessed it. He took 22 minutes to die, appeared conscious for part of that time and was thrashing around on the gurney.

Kenneth Eugene Smith was undoubtedly a despicable criminal who committed a heinous crime but it still doesn't make this sort of death acceptable.

No one forced him to kill a woman for money, I imagine. Or kill anyone at all.

It’s state sanctioned murder and has no place in a civilised society. I read he was effectively tortured for 22 minutes. Horrendous.

We know it wasn't quick. He took 22 minutes to die. No-one who was there thinks he was moving after death.

If Dignitas has access to drugs which bring about a quick death then why can’t they be used here?

Drug companies will no longer sell such drugs to prisons due to anti-death penalty campaigns. That's why they were trying this untested method, which they apparently thought would make him become unconscious immediately and die within a few minutes. It didn't work like that. As said upthread, they could have administered a sedative first and they didn't.

@notknowledgeable What do you mean they move a lot after death?

Because they couldn't get the drugs that are used in the lethal injection.

I don't know, did he? Or was it 22 minutes until he was approached to be certified? Several people who were there think he was moving after death. several people predicted such movements before the execution started.

I don't know why nitrogen was used not carbon monoxide, but I guess there was a reason.

I am sure there will be more information available about what it was like for him at some stage, but we don't have that information right now.

Agree - they could have/should have used a sedative (or another method).

This.

'No sympathy' is the least of what I'll say.

So, very long ago, we went on a school chemistry trip to a BOC plant (exciting times). During that trip, it was explained to us that, as nitrogen is heavier than mixed air, any nitrogen leak would settle into services trenches and pipe ways, and there had been deaths where people inadvertently went into these contaminated areas and died instantly, as the oxygen was sucked out of their blood by the reverse concentration gradient. Very very fast, apparently.

I’m not sure what the set up was in this case - maybe the nitrogen was slowly piped in, instead of him entering a 100% nitrogen environment. But anyway, sounds like it’s a potentially quick and painless death if done right. The sensation of suffocation is usually down to a build up of carbon dioxide, not a lack of oxygen, so you shouldn’t feel respiratory distress.

I don’t support the death penalty in any way, just interested in the physiology.

I work in a prison and would never be part of this

For what he did, i hope he suffered for every single second of those 22mins.

This man was paid to stab a woman to death. So, I’ll assume he’s a hitman, and this wasn’t his first.

Why exactly are we feeling sorry for him in that it took 20 mins to die?

Probably not. However, it seems to me pretty obvious that the justice system should not be built on my primitive revenge instincts.

Exactly

Plus,

One less violent, woman killing, bastard on the planet.