The execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith (July 4, 1965 – January 25, 2024) took place in the U.S. state of Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia.
Smith and Parker carried out the murder and stabbed Elizabeth Sennett to death at her home in Colbert County.
Billy Gray Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and died in prison in November 2020.
[6] Earlier, Smith and Parker arrived at the Sennetts' home and told Elizabeth that Charles had allowed them to survey the grounds for hunting purposes.
As Elizabeth struggled for her life; a "fireplace set, a walking cane, and a piece of galvanized pipe" were used to beat her.
[16] Two minutes later, at 7:59 p.m. the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay of execution, which Smith's lawyers immediately provided to the Alabama Department of Corrections.
[16] The Department of Corrections replied that they had received notice of the stay, but did not inform Smith or allow him to speak with his lawyers, instead keeping him strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber.
[16] Another individual began repeatedly stabbing Smith's collarbone with a needle, attempting to place a central IV line.
[19][20] On the other hand, rights groups and the United Nations were concerned that the never-used method of nitrogen gas execution might lead to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture", and Smith's lawyers earlier argued in the failed Supreme Court appeal that it was unconstitutional to conduct a second execution attempt on Smith after he survived the first.
[21] On January 25, Smith's final appeal to stave off his execution was once again rejected by the Supreme Court, and his death sentence was scheduled to be carried out on the same evening at 6 p.m. CST.
Chuck Sennett, one of the victim's two sons, stated in response that Smith should pay the price for killing his mother, who he felt was overlooked in light of the planned execution method of nitrogen hypoxia.
[5] Smith ate his last meal—steak, hash browns, and eggs—eight hours before he was put to death, and he received a final visit from his wife and sons.
Ivey also said in a media conference that justice had been served and hoped that Sennett's family could find closure after Smith's execution.
Smith's remains were subsequently released to the Escambia County Coroner for an autopsy at the Mobile Laboratory of the Department of Forensic Sciences.
Another death row inmate scheduled to die by nitrogen hypoxia in Alabama in November 2024, Carey Dale Grayson, hired an expert to analyze Smith's autopsy results in August 2024.
A second expert, Thomas Andrew, the chief medical examiner of New Hampshire, agreed that Smith should have been sedated before his execution because nitrogen hypoxia introduces "a sense of the absence of oxygen, air hunger, and all of the panic and discomfort that is part and parcel of that way of dying.
"[34] Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned Alabama's use of nitrogen gas to administer Smith's death penalty and stated that the method had amounted to a potential form of torture and degrading punishment.
[37][38][39] Four months later, Alan Eugene Miller, another death row inmate who was found guilty of fatally shooting three people in 1999, was also scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas in Alabama.
[41] Carey Dale Grayson, who was 19 when he murdered a hitchhiker in 1994, was executed by nitrogen gas, becoming the third person in Alabama on November 21, 2024.
[42][43][44] Convicted serial rapist and killer Demetrius Terrence Frazier, was the fourth condemned inmate to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia on February 6, 2025.