"Controversy Surrounds Nation's First Nitrogen Gas Execution: A Brief History and Eyewitness Account"

Kenneth Eugene Smith, convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire case, convulsed and gasped for breath during Alabama's first execution using nitrogen gas, with critics calling it cruel and experimental while the attorney general described it as a "textbook" execution. The process began with a mask check and Smith's final words, followed by thrashing and gasping breaths before the curtains closed around 8:15 p.m., and he was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m.