As Kenneth Eugene Smith was executed slowly by nitrogen hypoxia for viciously murdering a woman, his wife cried out while he reportedly convulsed and thrashed.

Smith is the first person in history to be executed using this method according to the Daily Mail.

“Smith, 58, was put to death Thursday in a ‘horrific’ 22-minute ordeal when a gas mask was placed over his face, before a stream of 100 percent nitrogen gas suffocated him inside the execution chamber at the William C. Holman prison in Atmore, Alabama,” the Daily Mail reported.

“Aged 22, Smith was one of two men convicted in the murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett, 45, the wife of preacher Charles Sennet Sr. who hired the men to kill his wife in an insurance plot,” the media outlet noted.

Sennett was stabbed 8 times in the chest and once on each side of her neck in 1988. He was paid $1,000 for the hit. Despite the brutal nature of her murder, leftists lined up to bemoan the execution of her killer.

(Video Credit: LiveNOW from FOX)

“The murderer’s spiritual guide, Jeff Hood, described the execution as the ‘worst thing’ he had ever seen, claiming prison officials gasped in shock as he died far slower than anticipated,” the Daily Mail wrote.

“When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,” Hood claimed.

“(Smith) kept breathing for what could possibly be up to nine minutes, ten minutes, unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama… that was torture,” he asserted.

Smith was declared dead at 8:25 p.m. It reportedly took 22 minutes after he was administered the gas for him to breathe his last breath.

“As he spoke his final words, delivered through the gas mask on his face, Smith made a heart sign with his left hand to his family before declaring: ‘Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards… I’m leaving with love, peace and light,'” the Daily Mail wrote.

(Video Credit: AL.com)

For his heinous crime, Smith was sentenced to death in 1996.

Lee Hedgepeth, one of five journalists to see Smith put to death, sat next to the killer’s wife Deanna in the viewing gallery, just feet away from where her husband awaited execution.

“The execution starts at about 7.53. The nitrogen begins flowing into the gas mask and Kenny begins to violently shake against the straps that are holding him,” he told the BBC.

“That violent shaking lasts for about four or five minutes. I’ve witnessed five executions in Alabama. Four of them lethal injection. One with nitrogen and this was the most violent execution I have ever seen,” he contended. “Sitting beside me was Deanna Smith, the wife of Kenny. Once Kenny began to violently shake against those straps she began to sob.”

“There were other media witnesses in the room, folks who had seen other executions, and I think there was a shock in the room at how violent the execution was,” Hedgepeth claimed.

This is who some of you are crying over? A piece of shit that stabbed a woman to death… He deserved to suffer. Rot in hell Kenneth Eugene Smith. #alabama #KennethEugeneSmith #KennethSmith #restinpiss #deathpenalty pic.twitter.com/5gf8cJPzBT

— That Guy Shane (@ProfanityNewz) January 26, 2024

Alabama officials asserted that Smith’s death was an “effective and humane method of execution.” It was the first time a new method of execution was employed since lethal injections were introduced 42 years ago.

The state had attempted to execute Smith in 2022 by lethal injection and it didn’t work. Prisons have had a hard time obtaining lethal injection drugs in recent years, so nitrogen was decided upon as a viable alternative that Smith himself had requested.

It took 35 years for justice to be done in Smith’s case but it finally arrived on Thursday. Sennett’s sons were in attendance to watch the execution.

“His debt was paid”: Mike Sennett, the son of Alabama inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith’s murder victim, Elizabeth Sennett, is speaking out after Smith’s controversial nitrogen hypoxia execution on Thursday night, saying “we’re glad this day is over.” https://t.co/pEr3l1zkto pic.twitter.com/6mNr1Rw7xu

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 26, 2024

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