Alabama Can't Hide from Their Own Nitrogen Hypoxia Autopsy—But They Can Ignore It
The state's autopsy following Kenneth Smith's execution by nitrogen hypoxia backs up witness accounts and contradicts the state. Tonight they'll use nitrogen again anyway.
We’re at the tail end of an execution spree.
The states of South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas have killed four men since last Friday, with Alabama scheduled to kill Alan Eugene Miller tonight. While Missouri got the most attention with its execution of Marcellus Williams—as credible innocence claims typically do—Alabama gets another look here, as they return to the nitrogen hypoxia “innovation“ used to kill Kenneth Smith earlier this year.
Nitrogen hypoxia had been gaining traction in the death penalty world for years, bolstered by the diminished track record of lethal injection, the development of nitrogen as a suicide method, and accounts of seemingly painles deaths from industrial accidents. Unlike previous gases used in executions (including hydrogen cyanide, which Arizona keeps as an option), nitrogen is an inert gas, meaning it doesn’t react with the body’s chemical receptors; theoretically, this means that you could breathe it in and quickly fall unconscious, before you even realize something is wrong.
Detractors warned that more rigorous animal data1 contradicted the idea that the condemned wouldn’t even notice they were being suffocated, and assisted suicide physician Philip Nitzschke strongly objected to Alabama’s protocol after inspecting the state’s death chamber; supporters pointed out that nitrogen gas would be easier to get than execution drugs. Ultimately, very little stops the machinery of death, and Alabama produced the first sample from which we could study nitrogen-based executions.
Alabama Called Its Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution “Textbook,” Then Hid the Evidence
Two stories quickly emerged from the death chamber that night. Media witnesses and Smith’s spiritual advisor described a “horrifying“ scene, with Smith gasping and convulsing for several minutes before finally falling unconscious; state prison commissioner John Hamm dismissed these as “involuntary movements” and “agonal breathing.“2 Alabama’s Attorney General Steve Marshall nonetheless declared the execution “textbook“ and offered help to other states implement their own nitrogen hypoxia execution protocols.
Given Alabama’s track record of bizarre post-execution statements, investigative journalists were skeptical. Beth Shelburne of Moth to flame requested the autopsy, which she noted was “expressly public by nature“ according to state statute. The state’s response was that they couldn’t release it, as the case “remains under criminal investigation. As Shelburne points out, this is “laughable:” the state went out of its way to praise the proceedings to high heaven, couldn’t (or wouldn’t) answer any questions about what this new “investigation“ might be about, and at press time hadn’t filed any charges related to the matter.3
Kenneth Smith’s Autopsy Shared Similar Symptoms with Lethal Injection Subjects
Attorneys for future nitrogen hypoxia subject Carey Dale Grayson got a copy of the autopsy during litigation against the state, and had anesthesiologist Brian MacAlary evaluate it. According to MacAlary, Smith’s autopsy showed negative pressure pulmonary edema, or fluid buildup in the lungs. Essentially, when you try to take a breath against a blocked airway, the pressure within your system eventually pulls fluid out of your blood and into the lungs, causing you to feel that you’re drowning in yourself. McAlary theorized that the panic caused by a lack of oxygen, dubbed “air hunger,” caused his airway to narrow, producing signs similar to an obstruction.4
Notably, the autopsy also showed a small amount of “frothy fluid“ in Smith’s tracheobronchial tree (an umbrella term for the parts comprising the end of the airway and the beginning of the lungs). As anesthesiologist Joel Zivot noted in his study of botched lethal injections, froth in the airways “requires the active mixing of fluid, proteins, and surfactant5” and suggests that he was still struggling to breathe throughout the execution.
Problems and All, Miller has Agreed to Die
For Miller’s part, he reached a confidential agreement with the state and dropped his appeals, agreeing to tonight’s execution in exchange for unknown concessions. Naturally, Marshall crowed that the settlement “confirms that Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia system is reliable and humane,” apparently considering the numerous medical questions still surrounding the procedure to be nullifiable by the right signatures. Miller—like Smith, a survivor of Alabama’s botched lethal injection epidemic in 2022—had asked for fit testing the nitrogen mask (a requirement to wear masks in professional settings), sedation beforehand (which lethal injection witnesses believe Alabama was already doing and which McAlary recommended), and other considerations; Alabama couldn’t confirm whether they’d made any such changes.
Nonetheless, the problems with nitrogen executions that Alabama denied have had an impact elsewhere: major gas suppliers are refusing to cooperate and states who were watching Alabama with excitement have slowed their own nitrogen rollouts.
Supporters of nitrogen executions correctly point out that animal data is not human data, but CCTV footage isn’t particularly useful “data“ either.
Agonal breathing refers to a series of infrequent, deep gasps seen in cardiac arrest patients, not the frequent and frantic grasping described by witnesses. Hamm did not reveal the source he relied on for that assessment and does not list any medical training in his official biography.
Notably, however, attorney and journalist Steve Cooper did find an excessive force settlement on behalf of Alabama’s execution team captain Brandon McKenzie.
To be fair to the state, “air hunger“ can be triggered by holding one’s breath, which has always been Alabama’s contention about Smith; however, this is contradicted by witnesses, who said Smith began breathing almost immediately.
A chemical in the alveoli (the lungs’ air sacs) allowing them to stretch and hold oxygen.
Anthony
As well known, animals react instinctively to no oxygen and panic when there is recued or none.
Murderers, are, on the other hand, are well aware that the nitrogen gas that they are about to breathe, will displace all of the oxygen, meaning
some will hold their breath and panic and Smith did.
As we know it will take from 20-40 seconds when breathing 100% nitrogen gas,to pass out, it is not possible for the murderer to feel any distress from adema.
From the industrial accidents with nitrogen gas, with those who have lived, we know, quite well, that they passed out while having no warning nor panic. They, simply, passed out.
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