TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jan 26, 2024

The state of Alabama yesterday executed Kenneth Smith with nitrogen, the first new execution method in decades, Reuters reports. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to halt the execution. Smith had argued before the high court that a second attempt to execute him — after the state failed previously using lethal injection — violates the constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In a separate challenge, a federal judge on Jan. 10 denied Smith’s claims that the method could induce a stroke or leave him in a permanent vegetative state. Smith was found guilty in a murder-for-hire scheme in 1988.