Kenneth Eugene Smith’s execution would be the nation’s first using nitrogen gas.
Lawyers for a spiritual adviser to an Alabama inmate scheduled to be executed with nitrogen gas next month said in a complaint filed Wednesday that restrictions on how close the adviser can get to the inmate in the death chamber are “hostile to religion.”
The Rev. Jeff Hood, who plans to enter the death chamber to minister to Kenneth Eugene Smith, said the Alabama Department of Corrections asked him to sign a form acknowledging the risks and agreeing to stay 3 feet (0.9 meters) away from Smith’s gas mask. Hood, a death penalty opponent, said that shows there is a risk to witnesses attending the execution. He said the restrictions would also interfere with his ability to minister to Smith before he is put to death.
“They’ve asked me to sign a waiver, which to me speaks to the fact that they’re already concerned that things could go wrong,” Hood said in a telephone interview.
Smith’s execution would be the nation’s first using nitrogen gas. The nitrogen is planned be administered through the gas mask placed over Smith’s nose and mouth while he is strapped to a gurney in the death chamber normally used for lethal injections.
I guess if we want to be respectful to religion, we should stone him and the preacher can get as close as he wants. I bet he wouldn’t have a problem standing at a distance in that scenario.
I can’t tell if this comment is anti religion or pro death penalty.
It’s supposed to be anti both, but I worded it a little ambiguously!
Yea, definitely had me going “wait you still want him to be put to death?” until I got down the comment chain.
Tbf Lemmy has a disproportionate number of tankies, who I’d reason would actually hold an anti-religion/pro-capital-punishment stance.
Tbf Lemmy has a disproportionate number of tankies, who I’d reason would actually hold an anti-religion/pro-capital-punishment stance.
Yeah that’s what I thought it was.
Or they’re worried he will accidentally dislodge the mask and interfere with the proper administration of nitrogen. There is no actual danger to breathing nitrogen - the air we breathe is mostly nitrogen - we just need oxygen mixed in. It’s all a stage play for delaying his execution.
I’m not in favor of execution, but this is the most humane method we have available. So until we can stop executing people, it would be good not to fuck with doing it in this way.
Well…we CAN stop. Before this one.
Theoretically? Sure. Actually though, there’s no chance. Sadly.
Nitrogen is certainly my plan when I’m old
Mine as well. I deal with big industrial stuff which involves nitrogen lines often. Making a leak at a site would be pretty easy. Looks like an accident and my family gets a few million.
Your family would rather have you.
Maybe so but I am not going to spend years rotting from bed sores while some underpaid staff punish me for complaining by leaving my diaper on.
My wife is a nurse and quit her old employer the night she had to give a statement to the police about how one of the aids beat a dementia patient out of revenge . Who was a different CNA one that quite literally walked over a patient who had fallen out of bed because “it is my lunch break”.
Nope. Not doing it. I gave up almost everything for my family they don’t have the right to demand that I cling to a life with zero quality.
My dad is dying of dementia right now, not saying you have to ride that out. I’m saying you owe yourself and your family the time between retirement and sharp decline.
I am sorry you are enduring that and frankly I don’t want to argue about my last wishes with someone who is enduring the misery you must be. No offense but I enjoy looking at myself in the mirror.
Be well, your point is taken and I will consider it.
Again, I would understand if someone wanted to end it before serious decline set in. Just not just in case before retirement to get my family some money. Because again, if there’s real quality time to be had with someone who’s still definitely your father/husband as opposed to a shell with a bit of them left inside. Then they’d rather have that than the money. I wouldn’t judge anyone for sparing themselves that latter stage though, I have no idea what I will do if that choice comes to me.
Mine is heroin, it’s easier to access.
You don’t want to do opiate overdose. I once found a dude overdosing. He was already at the agonal breathing stage. It sounded like a loud short snore about 1 every 2 min. I followed the sound to the bathroom. There was brown liquid leaking out from under the door. I tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. So I turned the knob and put my shoulder into the door forcing it open.
There on the floor was my best friend in the world since we were six years old. His pants were around his ankles and that brown liquid was the vomit he was choking on. Unknown to me he had been there a couple of hours.
I called 911 and they came and got him. He spent a week in the hospital, but when he came out he was different. For one thing he had lost his short term memory. He’d tell you something. Then 2 mins later tell you again like you never heard it before. But also something on a fundamental level was different.
A few years later 2 days after Christmas it was his mom’s birthday. She made him stay in the basement because she was afraid he’d embarrass her in front of her guests. After the party they went down to check on him and he was dead of an overdose.
TLDR: Don’t use heroin as an end of life plan. The margin of error is too large and if you fuck it up you’ll be tarded for the rest of your life.
So use an old fashioned gas chamber instead of a mask? This never seemed to be an issue when inmates were executed that way…
Because the state had much more leeway to trample on people’s rights at that time. My gut tells me you didn’t read the article. I didn’t either, but I just listened to a podcast about this case yesterday.
Isn’t any kind of killing hostile to religion?
Have you read any holy books? They’re filled with god-ordained killings.
Definitely haven’t been any holy wars, witch hunts, or inquisitions.
Killing in the name of God is kind of a thing
Someone should write a song about that.
Yeah, like… One in particular. Buddhism, not Eastern Wind Buddhism (I am only tangentially familiar with that version of the religion, so I cannot speak to strongly on it’s teachings) is the only religion I know of that actually shows any real reverence for life.
Side note, even most Buddhist nations still permit abortion and practice capital punishment, though both are heavily socially stigmatized unless the abortion is medically necessary.
Sure there is nothing directly that advocates capital punishment in Buddhist tradition but they do have the Angulimala story which, in most versions, the Buddha tells him to accept his fate to be executed for murder. Also you know in practice the Tibetan theocracy was willing to do it for the crime of heresy.
Why would any religion that has reincarnation be against abortion? At worst, it’s a spawn kill - respawn in 30 seconds elsewhere and carry on.
To be fair, it’s impossible to know how long the respawn timer is. Also, spawn killing is not cool.
(this is purely a joke and has no connection to my views on abortion)
The only thing attributed directly to the Buddha about abortion is him saying that he didn’t want it to be used to conceal adultery. So technically he wasn’t even against it, he was against it being used as a tool to do something else.
Would they prefer he be crucified?
Line on the left, one cross each.
The good book only approves lethal injections
Guillotinés are effective
Ok, let’s use the electric chair and let the priest touch him.
We should stop allowing priests to touch people. I think they have already touched more than enough…
