Another Botched Execution in Alabama; A Simple Remedy

WASHINGTON - Jan. 26, 2024 - PRLog -- Although Alabama had assured judges in several different courts that the execution of Kenneth Smith by asphyxiation using nitrogen gas would by painless and cause unconsciousness within seconds and death with minutes, witnesses said (https://news.sky.com/story/kenneth-smith-alabama-murderer-becomes-first-inmate-in-the-world-executed-with-painless-nitrogen-gas-13056269) it took some 22 minutes, with the prisoner apparently remaining fully conscious for much of that time.

They also said that there was clear evidence that he was forced to endure unnecessary pain and suffering - he appeared to shake and writhe, and to try to pull against the restraints which prevented him from moving.

Having now having been the victim of two botched executions, the last one finally proving fatal, Smith's suffering is almost certainly going to provoke numerous legal challenges with resulting delays in the three states which propose to use asphyxiation in the future, predicts public interest law professor John Banzhaf, citing a very recent Supreme Court ruling which opened the door to such "method of execution" challenges.

The law professor points out 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.

Indeed, he says that there is - and has long existed - a "readily available alternative method of execution" which would "significantly reduce the risk of severe pain" - citing the Supreme Court's new test - 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 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.

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