This is the first new method of execution since 1982.

 That was when lethal injection was first introduced and used here in the U.S. 

We’re told by media observers who were there witnessing the execution that Kenneth Smith’s last words were, “Tonight, Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards.”

There was a press conference following that execution where witnesses described Smith as being conscious for several minutes, two minutes, he was shaking on the gurney and against his mask that was pumping nitrogen gas and then it was followed by several minutes of deep breaths before his breath then slowed down.

The Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm was asked about that shaking, especially since the state had argued in court documents that he would be unconscious within seconds via this method of execution, nitrogen gas. Hamm said it was “nothing out of the ordinary for what they expected from a nitrogen hypoxia execution.”

Now, we did speak with Reverend Jeff Hood, who was a spiritual adviser for Smith. 

We were the first to speak with him after he left the execution chamber and he described it as absolute torture. 

“That was torture,” Hood said. “That was absolute torture and torture is evil. I thought that was something that as a country that we held that it’s wrong to torture people. It’s wrong to experiment on people, but that’s what I saw.”

We also spoke with Mike and Chuck Sennett, the sons of Elizabeth Sennett. They say that they have been waiting 35 years for justice, that Elizabeth, their mother was a simple preacher’s wife raised in the country and here’s what else they said.

“They’re talking about Smith and what’s happening to him, now, everybody’s forgotten about the woman in Calvert County,” Chuck said. “That’s what she’s known as right now. Her name’s Elizabeth Sennett. He killed her. He’s got to pay that price for what he done to our mother.”

Alabama is one of three states, alongside Oklahoma and Mississippi, approved to use nitrogen gas as a form of execution.

The Catholic Church is against any form of the death penalty.

Since 2018, Pope Francis declared capital punishment “inadmissible” under all circumstances.

It was a change to Catholic Catechism, which said the Church didn’t exclude the death penalty if it defended human lives against an “unjust aggressor.”

But the Holy Father instead started to advocate for an end to capital punishment.

It is a call echoed by the Catholic Mobilizing Network, who Thursday night on twitter released a statement in response to Smith’s execution.

“Our prayers and actions should be working toward embracing justice solutions that aren’t rooted in revenge. The pursuit of death in the name of justice must end,” the organization said in a statement.

You can help them in that goal.

The Catholic Mobilizing Network started a petition urging President Biden to bring an end to the death penalty. 

To sign it just go to catholicsmobilizing.org, and click on the take action page.

You can read more about this controversial execution on The Tablet’s website.