Supreme Court Rejects Alabama’s Bid to Execute Death Row Inmate by Lethal Injection, Allowing Inmate to Choose Untested Method of Execution.

The Supreme Court has rejected Alabama’s bid to execute a death row inmate by lethal injection, leaving in place a lower court ruling that his preference for lethal gas is a viable alternative method. The inmate, Kenneth Smith, was sentenced to death for murdering Elizabeth Sennett in 1988 and objected to being executed by lethal injection due to the pain it would cause.

Alabama has authorized nitrogen hypoxia – death as a result of breathing pure nitrogen – as an execution method, but no state has attempted to use the untested method to put an inmate to death. The state argued that the decision disregarded Supreme Court precedent that an inmate challenging an execution method must show that an alternative method is readily available, not just feasible.

Justices without comment rejected the Alabama attorney general’s request to review an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Smith in November, saying that because the state has approved nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, Smith has the right to choose it as an alternative to lethal injection.

The Supreme Court’s decision leaves in place the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, meaning Smith will be able to choose nitrogen hypoxia as his execution method when he is ultimately put to death. This marks the first time an inmate has been allowed to choose an execution method other than lethal injection.