Attorneys for Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, filed an amended lawsuit challenging the proposed new execution method as a potential violation of the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. They asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction to block the execution from going forward next year.

“There is sparse research on how long a human must be exposed to 100% pure nitrogen to cause death, what happens if a human is exposed to less than 100% pure nitrogen for a prolonged period of time, or on the pain or sensations that a human exposed to nitrogen might experience,” his attorneys wrote in the amended lawsuit filed Monday.

They noted in the filing that the American Veterinary Medical Association wrote in 2020 euthanasia guidelines that nitrogen hypoxia is an acceptable method of euthanasia for pigs but not other mammals because it could create an “anoxic environment that is distressing for some species.”

  • mommykink@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    NTA but my top three would be

    hypoxia via inert gas

    firing squad

    hanging

    The humiliation of spending my last few minutes on Earth strapped to a chair while my body is chemically forced to fall asleep and my muscles and heart stop is too dehumanizing and is a punishment in itself to me.

    • hglman
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      1 year ago

      Mine would have explosives strapped to my head. You would not exist long before any pain could be registered.