ATMORE, Ala.—Alabama executed a convicted murderer with nitrogen gas Thursday, putting him to death with a first-of-its-kind method.
Officials said Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. at an Alabama prison after breathing pure nitrogen gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation. It marked the first time that a new execution method has been used in the United States since lethal injection, now the most commonly used method, was introduced in 1982.
