An Alabama death row inmate suffered horribly for 22 minutes during a historic execution by nitrogen hypoxia on Thursday.
58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith’s pastor attended the execution he called a “torture” as he witnessed the convicted killer struggling, convulsing, and trashing against his restraints as he suffocated slowly.
“When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,” Pastor Jeff Hood recalled.
The unprecedented execution took longer than expected. Smith was officially pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m.
The inmate’s wife cried out as she witnessed him tearing against the restraints.
“Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backward…I’m leaving with love, peace, and light,” Smith said, just minutes earlier.
Pastor John Ewell revealed that Smith was already “really struggling” as his highly-anticipated execution approached.
He barely ate his final meal consisting of a T-bone steak, hashbrowns, eggs, and A1 sauce.
Hood, who had previously witnessed five executions, felt “lethal injection is preferable every single day” after witnessing Smith’s agony.
“I could see the corrections officers,” Hood said. “I think they were very surprised that this didn’t go smoothly.”
“[Smith] kept breathing for what could possibly be up to nine minutes, ten minutes, unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama…that was torture.”
