Page 13 - Execution Chamber News Today

Kenneth Smith has previously said that he is “terrified” by the prospect of being killed with nitrogen gas.

The United Nations is calling for Alabama to halt the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith over the method planned, nitrogen hypoxia, which it says is torture.

Alabama plans to experiment with nitrogen hypoxia, a previously untried method of execution, when it puts Kenneth Smith to death on Jan. 25.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission expressed outrage Wednesday that convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith would be put to death using the untested method of nitrogen hypoxia in Alabama.

Alabama is poised to use nitrogen gas in a planned execution next month — making it the first of any state to attempt such a method and setting the stage for legal challenges.

Texas' application of the death penalty is not as aggressive as it once was. But a watchdog group says problems with the system persist.

Phillip Dean Hancock, 59, received a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary for the 2001 killings of Robert Jett Jr and James Lynch

Keith LaMar was supposed to die on Thursday -- the day prison wardens were to take him to the execution chamber -- but an unusual circumstance led to a reprieve, and the convict is honoring his additional time with the release of a song, "The Journey," composed with the help of a Spanish musician publicizing his story.He's been granted, he says, "additional time... to put together a formidable legal team... a viable campaign... to bring my story to a wider audience."

Two convicted murderers are scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in the United States on Thursday, one in Alabama and one in Texas.There have been seven executions in Texas this year and 21 in the United States.

The state plans to execute McWhorter on Thursday. Here's what we know about the crime, the timeline and the process.