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Alabama condemned for nitrogen gas execution: ‘They intended to torture him’ (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 9 months ago by CaractacusPotts@lemmy.ca to c/politics

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Smith’s execution by “nitrogen hypoxia” took around 22 minutes, according to media witnesses, who were led into a viewing room at the William C Holman correctional facility in Atmore shortly before 8 pm local time.

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[–] jarfil 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Apparently they tried that on this guy first, but couldn't find a vein. Guess he did everything possible to make it hard to find one... and they didn't knock him out first, like with some laughing gas.

suffocation is not going to be humane... even with pure nitrogen

With pure nitrogen, unconsciousness comes first. Emphasis on the "pure" part; the moment any CO2 or O2 gets into the mix, shit happens.

[–] xor@infosec.pub 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

they definitely can find a vein... it's just not always easy...
as a kid they could never find my veins... even had an IV in my foot once. but when they need to they'll just keep trying and calling in backup (and eventually a specialist).

but yes of course, they could just use knock-out gas... and, really, completely replacing a rooms air with pure nitrogen is pretty dumb when you think about it. unless it was just a huge volume of gas that flooded the room. pulling a vaccuum on an entire room would take a while too.
and obviously he would hold his breath... eventually exhaling co^2
but yeah, why wouldn't they just use standard anesthesia gas? or nitrous oxide?
...
someone invented a concept-art nitrogen gas suicide booth in switzerland, and some bubba read a tweet about it and now we have this here crime against humanity...

[–] Smoke 5 points 9 months ago

but yeah, why wouldn’t they just use standard anesthesia gas? or nitrous oxide?

Because the suppliers don't want to be associated with executions, so they won't sell any to the state for that purpose.

[–] jarfil 3 points 9 months ago

It highly depends on the skill of the nurse, some have a sixth sense to do it at the first try. I have my veins destroyed thanks to long hospital stays while getting pumped full of antibiotics... but just today went to get some blood drawn, got the good nurse, and he did it on the first try. Actually barely felt it at all.

As for the Swiss guys, they have other non-art methods that can also use nitrogen... but they're all targeted at people willing to die, not trying to fight it.