A spiritual adviser to the first man in the US to be executed by nitrogen gas said prison staff could not hide their shock at the “horror show” unfolding before them.
“There was obvious shock and surprise on their faces,” said Rev. Jeff Hood told The Post.
Hood described the 22-minute death of Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, at Alabama’s WC Holman Correctional Facility as a scene from a horror movie.
“They were told this would be quick, easy and painless. They go on to say this is the most humane way society has ever done to put people to death.
“Everything is terrible. It’s a scene that will never leave me. Some [Smith’s] the fight looks made for Hollywood.
“If you had brought me there and not told me I was on death row, I would have thought I was on a movie set, some kind of horrible invention gone awry,” he said.
Smith was sentenced to death for his role in the murder of preacher wife Elizabeth Sennett in 1988. He spent more than three decades in prison before being executed by the controversial method of nitrogen hypoxia.
The case gained national attention after Smith survived a failed attempt to end his life by lethal injection in November 2022, which was called off when doctors failed to find a vein to inject the lethal drug cocktail after hours of trying.
Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, Kenneth Smith’s spiritual adviser who was by his side at the time of his death, said what he witnessed was like something out of a horror movie. Reuters
Hood said from his vantage point in the execution chamber he could see first-hand the prison staff overseeing Smith’s death.
He noticed an undeniable change in the facial expressions and body language of the staff, including corrections officers and Alabama Department of Corrections Regional Director Cynthia Stewart-Riley.
“In that situation, it was hard to tell what it was, but I knew what I saw in terms of the horror on the faces of the people in front of me,” Hood said.
View from the witness gallery into the execution chamber at Holman prison, Alabama. AP
“When the execution started and he started to squirm, it looked like staff members started to change direction,” he continued.
“He looked like a fish out of water, flapping repeatedly. Like all that happened [Stewart-Riley] was behind the gurney on his right. He was so distracted and nervous that he kept tapping his feet over and over again, like how when you’re distracted by something you’re nervous about and can’t sit still,” he said, saying the sound of his shoes tapping nervously sounded “like Tap dancing.”
Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was executed in Alabama on Thursday night by nitrogen hypoxia, the first inmate in the US to die using that method. Alabama Department of Corrections/UPI/Shutterstock
The Alabama DOC did not respond to a request for comment by The Post.
Hood said he could hear audible gasps through the glass of the execution room as the process began.
“In that situation, it was hard to tell what it was, but I knew what I saw in terms of the horror on the faces of the people in front of me.”
He said the expressions on the faces of the prison staff who witnessed the execution changed from loose and relaxed to “very tense and very strict” as the seconds and minutes passed.
“There’s no doubt they were affected” by what they witnessed, Hood said.
Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes during the more than 20-minute execution, according to the Associated Press.
The execution was already controversial, both because of previous failed attempts and also because it was the first time nitrogen gas was used to take the life of a prisoner.
Hood said he will never forget what he witnessed inside Holman Prison’s execution chamber, including the “shock and awe” on the staff’s faces. Reuters
“I am still suffering from the first execution and now we are doing this again. They wouldn’t even let me have post-traumatic stress disorder,” Smith told the Guardian earlier this week.
Following the sentencing, Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said “there was nothing out of the ordinary from what we expected,” Hood’s words took issue.
“I think he’s a liar. [Alabama Attorney General Steve] Marshall said the same thing. They are liars. They said all along that this would be almost instantaneous. That he would be gone, unconscious, in seconds. What we saw last night was minutes, minutes, and minutes of horror shows,” said the spiritual advisor.
After the news conference following the execution, Hood said he had a chance to speak with Elizabeth Sennett’s family, which he said was “very nice.”
“I had a really good conversation. It felt like a real humanitarian moment. Obviously we have big differences – they want the execution to happen and we don’t – but they are very concerned about Kenny’s family and everyone else involved. I think that speaks volumes about who they are,” Hood said.
“Everybody wants us all to hate each other, but we’ve all been wronged by the whole process.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
