sne Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Kenneth Smith was executed by nitrogen gas tonight in a process that took 22 minutes. Freedom intensifies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 22 hours ago, Panto_Villan said: Yeah. Wouldn’t be surprised to see this replace lethal injection in the long term tbh, both for the death penalty and voluntary euthanasia. If you’re breathing something and it doesn’t contain too much carbon dioxide, your body doesn’t react. You just get sleepy and die. Sounds like it didn’t go down that way. Quote Marty Roney of the Montgomery Advertiserreported that between 7.57pm local time and 8.01pm “Smith writhed and convulsed on the gurney. He took deep breaths, his body shaking violently with his eyes rolling in the back of his head.” Roney’s report continued: “Smith clenched his fists, his legs shook … He seemed to be gasping for air. The gurney shook several times.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/25/alabama-executes-kenneth-smith-nitrogen-gas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 1 hour ago, LondonLax said: Sounds like it didn’t go down that way. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/25/alabama-executes-kenneth-smith-nitrogen-gas Yeah, it didn’t look as much of a peaceful death as the leaflet suggested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted January 26 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26 Yeah being suffocated it turns out isn't that humane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 A jury voted for life imprisonment, it got overruled by the judge. The guy testified that he was present but not active in the murder. A previous lethal injection had failed, so they tested a new method out on him. Unbelievably horrific. State murder is great, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 'murica 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 (edited) 7 hours ago, LondonLax said: Sounds like it didn’t go down that way. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/25/alabama-executes-kenneth-smith-nitrogen-gas Ah, that doesn’t sound particularly pleasant. Maybe I’m thinking of carbon monoxide poisoning specifically then. Or perhaps you get sleepy if you’re breathing low oxygen gas rather than pure inert gas. Plus I guess the other disadvantage of gas is that, unlike lethal injection, you can’t have friends and family at your bedside at the end. Might limit its use in assisted suicide. I’m purely interested in this because I think assisted suicide will be much more popular in the coming decades. Someone being given the death penalty doesn’t really raise eyebrows for me any more. Edited January 26 by Panto_Villan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted January 26 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26 (edited) 1 hour ago, Dante_Lockhart said: 'murica Hey, we're only about half a century behind the UK, and even less behind France and Spain. Give us a few more decades, a different Supreme Court, and this barbarism will end (again) for good, I hope. Edited January 26 by Marka Ragnos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted January 26 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26 1 hour ago, bobzy said: A jury voted for life imprisonment, it got overruled by the judge. The guy testified that he was present but not active in the murder. A previous lethal injection had failed, so they tested a new method out on him. Unbelievably horrific. State murder is great, eh? It's the Christian thing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Dumb question. As somebody who knows nothing about guns and not pro death penalty. Given America is so big into guns and all that, isn’t a single shot to the head at the right angle the quickest method to die? Why all these long winded (and torturous methods) when the lauded weapon of choice of the country seems (from the outside) to be the most humane in terms of the least pain? Somebody has to release the gas, somebody has to release the fluids for lethal injection so it can’t be ‘the responsibility of doing it’. I told you it was a dumb question, happy to be slaughtered for asking but for somebody who sees all the options currently being used and not used they are all barbaric and inhumane, so I’m just wondering if there is some historic, medical or logical reason? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted January 26 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26 Why can't the first issue a general anaesthetic before switching gas to the nitrogen once they're totally under? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 2 minutes ago, nick76 said: Dumb question. As somebody who knows nothing about guns and not pro death penalty. Given America is so big into guns and all that, isn’t a single shot to the head at the right angle the quickest method to die? Why all these long winded (and torturous methods) when the lauded weapon of choice of the country seems (from the outside) to be the most humane in terms of the least pain? Somebody has to release the gas, somebody has to release the fluids for lethal injection so it can’t be ‘the responsibility of doing it’. I told you it was a dumb question, happy to be slaughtered for asking but for somebody who sees all the options currently being used and not used they are all barbaric and inhumane, so I’m just wondering if there is some historic, medical or logical reason? I can assume there are various ways to make someone die instantly. What they want to do is to make it 'clean'. No electrocution, no shots, no blood, no hanging, no nothing. I always wondered why they can't give them regular anaesthesia and stick them with a lethal dose of morphine. Surely that's the easiest way to do it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted January 26 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26 (edited) So it seems drug companies won't sell anaesthesia drugs to execution states. I assume this is also why the lethal injection drugs are also getting harder to get hold of for them. You can understand a corporate company not being willing to be connected to executions. You'd think those states who enjoy killing people would club together and form their own manufacturing facility to share the slaughter costs. Edited January 26 by sidcow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted January 26 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26 36 minutes ago, nick76 said: Dumb question. As somebody who knows nothing about guns and not pro death penalty. Given America is so big into guns and all that, isn’t a single shot to the head at the right angle the quickest method to die? Why all these long winded (and torturous methods) when the lauded weapon of choice of the country seems (from the outside) to be the most humane in terms of the least pain? Somebody has to release the gas, somebody has to release the fluids for lethal injection so it can’t be ‘the responsibility of doing it’. I told you it was a dumb question, happy to be slaughtered for asking but for somebody who sees all the options currently being used and not used they are all barbaric and inhumane, so I’m just wondering if there is some historic, medical or logical reason? Firing squad is still an option for execution in a couple of states and it's probable they'll add more to that list as it gets harder to get the 'nice' execution materials. It's also the only execution method that hasn't 'failed' iirc, though that's a low bar (by failed they mean they've not had a survivor or equipment failure leading to a cancellation, rather than it going wrong but still killing). It's not popular because it's messy and overtly violent and can be **** up leading to a particularly grim death - if you miss even slightly you've got a problem and the hit isn't a guaranteed instant death even if everything goes right - which in turn has a greater impact on the executioners and staff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 26 Moderator Share Posted January 26 1 hour ago, sidcow said: So it seems drug companies won't sell anaesthesia drugs to execution states. You can understand a corporate company not being willing to be connected to executions. Well that's not very American or capitalist at all. Sell, sell, sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 So looks like Trump and the republicans are pushing for civil war round 2. That country is a **** mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKP90 Posted January 26 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26 3 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said: Hey, we're only about half a century behind the UK, and even less behind France and Spain. Give us a few more decades, a different Supreme Court, and this barbarism will end (again) for good, I hope. After Trump Mk 2 you'll be lucky if you have a supreme court. Or anything even close to impartial federal apparatus. Or a democracy. We're all rooting for you. Sort your rednecks out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 26 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26 3 hours ago, nick76 said: happy to be slaughtered That's very considerate of you. What method of execution would you prefer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 (edited) The only small sliver of hope is that Trump can only do 1 more term, that should hopefully limit the damage if the unthinkable happens. Edited January 26 by Genie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 3 hours ago, nick76 said: Dumb question. As somebody who knows nothing about guns and not pro death penalty. Given America is so big into guns and all that, isn’t a single shot to the head at the right angle the quickest method to die? Why all these long winded (and torturous methods) when the lauded weapon of choice of the country seems (from the outside) to be the most humane in terms of the least pain? Somebody has to release the gas, somebody has to release the fluids for lethal injection so it can’t be ‘the responsibility of doing it’. I told you it was a dumb question, happy to be slaughtered for asking but for somebody who sees all the options currently being used and not used they are all barbaric and inhumane, so I’m just wondering if there is some historic, medical or logical reason? Firing squad is still available and while there are many other reasons - the other methods are less personal than shooting someone. While there may be some psychopaths willing to do it - I doubt the various states want to enlist someone as their shooter for the death sentence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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