.ON JANUARY 25TH Kenneth Eugene Smith became the 1st person anywhere to be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia. He was actually convicted in 1989 of killing Elizabeth Sennett, the partner of a sermonizer from Alabama, on her other half's orders. The state possessed initial attempted to execute him, through dangerous shot, in November 2022, however bungled the method. After that, Mr Johnson picked to become executed by unique means. His punishment has triggered outrage: Alabama claims nitrogen hypoxia is a fast, painless death yet lots of health care experts differ. Some have parallelled it to torment. Why did Alabama authorize this untried method?