An Alabama death row inmate is hours away from undergoing the first US execution by nitrogen gas after losing last-minute appeals.
The US Supreme Court and a lower appeals court have declined to block what Kenneth Eugene Smith’s lawyers called a cruel and unusual punishment.
Nitrogen is to be pumped into his body through a mask for up to 15 minutes.
Smith, 58, was convicted in 1989 of murdering a preacher’s wife, Elizabeth Sennett, in a killing-for-hire.
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