The Alabama Supreme Court is considering a request from the state attorney general to set an execution date for Kenneth Eugene Smith using a proposed new execution method of nitrogen hypoxia. Smith's lawyers have argued that this method is "experimental" and that the state has disclosed little information about how it would work, while the state has argued that it is a humane and painless way to carry out executions. If the court approves the request, Smith would become the first person in Alabama to be executed using the nitrogen hypoxia method, otherwise the state will have to find another way to carry out Smith's death sentence.
