Alabama executes man by nitrogen gas in the U.S.

> This is the second time Alabama has attempted to put Smith to death. In 2022, workers tried and failed to place the intravenous line necessary to kill him with lethal injection drugs. After he was strapped to the gurney for four hours, the execution was called off.

This seems unusual. And cruel.

From The Guardian article:

> Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who along with two other liberal justices dissented, wrote: “Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is watching.”

I guess no subsequent inmates can now use the argument that it is 'untested'...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/25/alabama-exec...

During lunch today my coworkers and I were discussing it because it seemed like a weird choice: nitrogen. But after reading the story, I guess I can understand. It's fairly innocuous, effective, and I guess, all things considered, fairly humane.

The article reads to me like nobody involved understands that we're bathed in nitrogen all the time. I get O2 sensors, but going on about it possibly leaking around the mask, and signing a waiver, and pooling... Give anyone in the vicinity a cannula hooked to an O2 bottle and all fears solved, right?

Reminds me of this time I was out with a couple friends for a beer. One asked me what "on Nitro means, is that like nitrous oxide?" I told her "I don't think so, I think it means nitrogen. You know, that stuff you're breathing?" "You mean oxygen?" "Air is mostly nitrogen, only a little oxygen." <to my other friend> "Did you know this?!?" She nods.

Seems like the best method to achieve execution even if still unethical