Alabama Inmate Fights Against Being Used as Guinea Pig for New Execution Method

An Alabama inmate, Kenneth Eugene Smith, is opposing being the test subject for the state's proposed new execution method of nitrogen hypoxia. Smith's lawyers argue that the state has provided little information about how nitrogen executions would work and are seeking to deny the state's request to set an execution date. Nitrogen gas is authorized as an execution method in three states but has never been used. Smith's attorneys claim that the state is trying to move him ahead of other inmates to moot his lawsuit challenging lethal injection procedures. Smith was convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett.