US Supreme Court sides with Alabama inmate who seeks to die by nitrogen hypoxia

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, who requested he be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia when executed. Justices without comment rejected the Alabama attorney general’s request to review an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Smith’s case. The state argued the 11th Circuit disregarded Supreme Court precedent that an inmate challenging an execution method must show that an alternative method is readily available, not just feasible. Nitrogen hypoxia is an authorized execution method in Alabama, but no state has attempted to use the untested method to put an inmate to death.