Alabama's Unprecedented Execution Method: A Shift from Lethal Injection to Nitrogen Gas

Alabama has already tried to execute Kenneth Smith once. On the night of November 17, 2022, he was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection, but workers couldn't find a vein to place an IV. They tried for an hour, during which, he was jabbed with needles in his arms, hands and collar bones.

Smith, one of only two living people in the U.S. to have survived an execution attempt, faces death again. On Thursday, the state of Alabama plans to execute him using a method it calls nitrogen hypoxia. It has never been tested in the U.S.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to investigative correspondent Chiara Eisner about Smith's execution, and what led Alabama to use a new and untested execution method.

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