- Smith, 57, has been on death row since 1996 for a gruesome 1988 murder
- Last year, prison nurses tried to execute him with the lethal injection but failed
- He sued, saying it would violate his rights to be subjected to it again
- Alabama Supreme Court today agreed that he will be executed instead with nitrogen hypoxia
Alabama’s Supreme Court has agreed to put death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith to death with nitrogen gas rather than the lethal injection after a botched attempt last year.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 after admitting the murder-for-hire killing of a pastor’s wife who was beaten and stabbed in 1988.
He had been hired by the woman’s husband to kill her along as part of a life insurance scam. The pastor who ordered the hit killed himself before he could be arrested.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 after admitting the murder-for-hire killing of a pastor’s wife who was beaten and stabbed in 1988
For 34 years, he awaited execution until last November.
But when prison doctors tried to find a deep enough intravenous connection for the lethal injection to take its effect, they couldn’t.
Smith sued, claiming he shouldn’t have to be subjected to such pain again.
As an alternative, the Supreme Court has allowed the Attorney General’s office to move forward with an alternative, nitrogen hypoxia execution.
While it has been legal since 2018, it has not yet been used on any inmate.
A date for the nitrogen gas execution has not yet been set.
Prosecutors said Smith and John Forrest Parker were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett for husband Charles Sennett Sr., who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance
Elizabeth Sennett, 45, was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the couple’s home in Alabama’s Colbert County. She had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of neck
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement: ‘Elizabeth Sennett’s family has waited an unconscionable 35 years to see justice served.
‘Today, the Alabama Supreme Court cleared the way for Kenneth Smith to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia for the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth.
‘Though the wait has been far too long, I am grateful that our talented capital litigators have nearly gotten this case to the finish line.’
Smith and his attorneys have not yet reacted to the decision.
Smith and fellow defendant John Forrest Parker took $1,000 each from Sennett’s husband to carry out her murder.
He was drowning in debt, and wanted to kill her to collect on her life insurance policy.
The two men beat and stabbed her viciously in her home, and were soon arrested.
Sennett’s husband killed himself a week after her death as suspicion turned to him. Parker was executed in 2010.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall celebrated the decision today
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk