LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Hours after the nation’s first execution by nitrogen gas in January last year, Alabama's attorney general urged other states to also develop it as a method for carrying out death sentences.
Now, some states are following suit.
Louisiana is scheduled to execute a man with nitrogen gas on March 18. Arkansas lawmakers are seeking to introduce nitrogen there after an eight-year pause in executions.
The use of nitrogen gas is one way for death penalty states to resume executions after being hampered by a shortage of lethal injection drugs. But the proposed expansion comes amid continuing debate over its constitutionality and what four Alabama inmates experienced as they were put to death.
“As Alabama has demonstrated, nitrogen hypoxia is a humane and effective method of execution,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said as he praised Louisiana’s plans to use it, and offered assistance.
Critics said that states, in a rush to carry out death sentences, are turning to a method that increases suffering.
“I would say it's horrific and evil,” said the Rev. Jeff Hood, who witnessed the first nitrogen execution in Alabama.
How does a nitrogen execution work?
An inmate is forced to breathe pure nitrogen gas, depriving them of the oxygen needed to stay alive. In Alabama, the inmate is strapped to a gurney with a gas mask covering their face. Nitrogen is pumped into the mask and is kept flowing for five minutes after the person’s heart stops beating. The nitrogen gas flowed for about 18 minutes during Alabama’s last execution on Feb. 6.
What happened at the first four nitrogen executions?
Alabama has executed four people with nitrogen gas. The inmates appeared to shake and gasp, to varying degrees during their executions, according to media witnesses, including The Associated Press.
A medical doctor who served as a spiritual advisor to Alabama inmate Alan Miller said during his Sept. 24 execution by nitrogen gas, Miller grimaced and shook on the gurney. It was unclear when Miller lost consciousness.
“I imagine this is what water boarding looks like, just that your body would shake like this while you’re slowly suffocating. ... It’s certainly not a peaceful way to die,” Dr. John Muench told The Associated Press last year.
State officials have said the shaking and gasping are involuntary movements associated with oxygen deprivation.
“There is going to be involuntarily body movements as the body is depleted of oxygen. So that was nothing we did not expect,” Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said after Miller’s execution.
Louisiana plans to be the second state to use nitrogen
Louisiana plans to use a mask to deliver nitrogen gas to execute Jessie Hoffman on March 18. If the execution goes forward, Louisiana will become the second state to use nitrogen to carry out a death sentence. Hoffman was convicted of the 1996 kidnapping and murder of Mary Elliott.
A judge has scheduled a Friday hearing for a preliminary injunction to stop the execution. Hoffman's attorneys say that Louisiana is seeking to make him their “test case” for the new method.
Louisiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature last year expanded the state’s capitol punishment methods to include nitrogen hypoxia and electrocution in an effort to resume executions after a 15-year pause.
In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said that she expects at least four people on death row will be executed this year.
“The family and friends of people who have been brutally murdered in our State should get the justice the law has promised them,” Murrill said on social media.
Arkansas lawmakers consider allowing nitrogen gas executions
Arkansas lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation to authorize nitrogen gas as an execution method. Supporters say it will allow executions to resume in a state that hasn’t put anyone to death since it executed four inmates in 2017.
The Arkansas House passed the nitrogen execution bill on a 67-23 vote, sending the measure to the state Senate. More than half of the Senate’s 35 members have signed on as sponsors of the legislation.
Republican Rep. Jeff Wardlaw proposed the measure after talking with families of the victims of a mass shooting at a grocery store in his district that killed four people. Prosecutors have not said whether they intend to seek the death penalty against Travis Eugene Posey, who was charged in the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty.
“As long as we have the death penalty as a sentence Arkansas’ courts can impose, I think it’s important we have a method that can actually take place,” Wardlaw said last week.
Drug manufacturers have opposed the use of their products in lethal injections, and state officials say that has prevented them from resuming executions. Arkansas has 25 inmates on death row.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has not said if she’ll sign the legislation if it reaches her desk.
Arkansas and other states have expanded the secrecy surrounding executions in recent years, enacting laws blocking information about the source of their lethal injection drugs and other details. That secrecy raises more questions about efforts by states to add nitrogen as an option for executions, experts say.
“It’s very hard to know why they would be pivoting to what is essentially an experimental method of execution,” Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said. “These secretive efforts are only raising more questions and concerns about safety and whether this is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds.”
Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney who has represented death row inmates in Arkansas, said nitrogen hypoxia is still going to face legal challenges in the state. He cited concerns raised about the executions carried out using the method in Alabama.
“You’re going to end up with a lot of litigation about it so it’s not going to solve the problem that has been identified,” he told lawmakers.
