A federal judge who is weighing whether to allow the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia to go forward next month, urged Alabama on Thursday to change procedures so the inmate can pray and say his final words before the gas mask is placed on his face.
U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker made the suggestion in a court order setting a Dec. 29 deadline to submit information before he rules on the inmate’s request to block the execution. The judge made similar comments the day prior at the conclusion of a court hearing.
Alabama is scheduled to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith on Jan. 25 in what would be the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas. Nitrogen hypoxia is authorized as an execution method in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma but has never been used to put an inmate to death.
The proposed execution method would use a gas mask, placed over Smith’s nose and mouth, to replace breathable air with nitrogen, causing Smith to die from lack of oxygen.
I do not need anything akin to religious holyness as a basis for respecting human life. I do not want to kill them, not because their life is sacred, but because I consider myself to be a decent human being.
Some of these people are also very much sick in a medical sense. Some are unfortunately the victims of former abuse. It does not matter what you think they deserve. If you want to be a good person you should help them (as in prison with therapy), because they clearly need it and you should be someone helping people in need.
EDIT: Just as I do not believe in religion, I also do not believe in monsters.
I think some people are in fact beyond help. They’d be a waste of resources that could actually help others who can change. Humans don’t have unlimited resources, so assuming we can help every single murderer and child rapist until they are reformed and ready to join society is just idealistic and unrealistic. So even if you don’t like it, this is better than letting them rot in a cell until they die of old age.
Plus, we’re just little bugs on a tiny rock in a universe so big we can’t even begin to comprehend. The only reason human life seems so important to you is because you’re a human. Personally, I’d rather focus on people making society a better place and making others happy instead of putting effort on a guy who rapes, tortures and beheads children.