Alabama's Execution by Suffocating a Prisoner Called "Torture," But

WASHINGTON - Jan. 22, 2024 - PRLog -- In what is being termed death by asphyxiation or suffocation - and also  "torture" - a prisoner is legally challenging Alabama's decision to kill him on Thursday by the untested method of forcing him to breathe nitrogen gas.

Several U.N. human rights special rapporteurs said the new execution method could cause "grave suffering" and "a painful and humiliating death" that would likely violate an international treaty, to which the U.S. is a party.

Having managed through numerous legal challenges to avoid the death penalty for a murder committed some 35 years ago, Kenneth Smith's new legal challenge in Alabama might further delay justice because of a recent Supreme Court ruling, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

However, Banzhaf also notes that there is a simple alternative to using asphyxiation  to carry out death sentences, which, because it is proven and painless, would avoid virtually all of the too-often-successful legal challenges to these forms of execution.

Banzhaf notes that there is - and has long existed - a "readily available alternative method of execution" which would "significantly reduce the risk of severe pain," and one which is used in many states to cause legally sanctioned death.

The simple alternative, Banzhaf notes, and an alternative to using suffocation for executions generally - with the many legal and other challenges this method has faced, and will continue to face - is putting the condemned on the pill.

Providing a condemned man with barbiturate pills to cause a quick and painless death - as is done in 'death with dignity' jurisdictions - is well tested, established, and accepted.

Moreover, and more importantly, in at least nine states (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington) and in the District of Columbia, physicians are permitted to prescribe barbiturate pills so that terminally ill (and often old and frail) patients can achieve death with dignity without any pain or other suffering.

"If this method of ending life is safe and appropriate for totally innocent and often frail elderly people with a wide variety of medical conditions who are seeking a quick and painless death with dignity, it should be more than good enough for murderers about to be executed for their crimes," Banzhaf argues.

Since only a few grams of certain barbiturates are necessary to cause death, and pills are apparently much harder for drug companies to restrict than liquid injectable drugs, the amount necessary to cause a quick and painless death might simply be administered in the form of several easy-to-obtain pills offered by jailers to the murderer in the death chamber.

http://banzhaf.net/ jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com @profbanzhaf