As five media witnesses and members in relation to Elizabeth Sennett’s 1988 hired murder watched in horror, Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first in the nation to be executed using nitrogen gas on January 25, 2024.
Kenneth Eugene Smith was sentenced to execution in hopes for Sennett’s family to gain justice for the loss of Elizabeth.
35 years ago, Reverend Charles Sennett Sr., the victim’s husband, hired 3 men to end the life of his wife, each receiving $1,000 if they succeeded.
After Elizabeth had been beaten to death, then stabbed 8 times, Smith was found guilty during his first trial.
Years later, after a first execution attempt in 2022 using lethal injection failed due to the execution team not being able to connect the intravenous lines to Smith before the death warrant had expired (deathpenaltyinfo.org), Alabama’s supreme court decided nitrogen gas was the way to go, marking the first time a new execution method had been introduced in the U.S. since 1982 when lethal injection was enacted.
This sparked major debate on the moral code belonging to Alabama’s supreme court. Smith’s lawyers argued that the Supreme Court’s decision was unconstitutional to carry out after Smith had already survived the first execution attempt. The United Nations even stepped in to voice their concern that using nitrogen gas as a form of execution could cause “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or even torture.’’
Lawyers for the state previously assured that pumping nitrogen, a chemical used for fertilizers, nylon, explosives, and dyes, into a mask would cause Kenneth Eugene Smith to fall unconscious, killing him peacefully. However, the opposite occurred.
While the gas mask was placed over his face, Smith began to inhale 100% nitrogen gas. He was seen violently convulsing, shaking the gurney, throughout the process. After 10-15 minutes of the gas flow, Smith was pronounced dead.
The curtains in the viewing room remained open for 22 minutes, showing the beginning, middle, and end of this never-before-seen event.
Witnesses were shocked to experience the brutal end to Smiths life. Rev. Jeff Hood, Smith’s spiritual adviser, expressed, “We didn’t see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds. What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life.”
Media witness, Ralph Chapoco of The Alabama Reflector, commented, “Trauma has a way of playing tricks on a person’s mind. I knew what I experienced. I could even visualize it. For some reason, however, I could not string a series of coherent thoughts together. … Frankly, I underestimated the impact [the] execution would have, believing I could place it in the back of my mind[JF7] .”
However, those mourning the loss of Elizabeth Sennett pointed out how while they don’t view Smith’s execution as a victory, this punishment remains appreciated.
Mike Sennett, the son of Elizabeth stated, “Nothing that happened here today is going to bring Mom back,” but admitted that he believes Smith is paying his “debt”.
While the death penalty was abolished in West Virginia in 1965, Jim Justice, West Virginia’s governor, mentioned his preference for capital punishment in 2023 after the murder of Sgt. Cory Maynard during an ambush (wowktv.com).
“The very first person that you call, you know, when you got a problem. The very, very, very first people we reach out to and, if one of them is murdered such as this, I would be very supportive,” Gov. Justice said while asked about the death penalty. “I don’t know how I can say it any more straight up than that.”
Senator Mike Stuart has also voiced his desire to bring the death penalty back in West Virginia for cases in which first responders’ lives are ended in the line of duty. He plans to make this his first act of the 2024 Legislative Session (wdtv.com).
“If you target first responders in the line of duty leading to death, the death penalty should be on the table,” Senator Mike Stuart voiced.
