On Thursday, for the first time in U.S. history, an Alabama inmate will be executed using nitrogen gas.Kenneth Smith survived the first execution attempt In November 2022.

Smith was arrested in 1988 on his side The murder of a pastor's wife, Elizabeth Sennett, in Sheffield, Alabama.

Charles Sennett hired Smith and two others for $1,000 and staged her death as a home invasion in a plan to cover up the affair and collect the life insurance proceeds to pay off the debt. Sennett committed suicide shortly after the investigation began, and Smith and her accomplice John Forest Parker were sentenced to death.

A third person involved in the conspiracy, Billy Williams, died in prison while serving a life sentence.

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Beyond the shocking details of his crime, Smith's battle with death row inmates garnered national attention. At his first trial, Smith was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by a jury. He appealed. In the second trial, the jury voted 11-1 in favor of a life sentence, but the judge overruled the jury's recommendation. Smith was again sentenced to death.

Alabama abolished judge nullification in death penalty cases in 2017, becoming the last state in the United States to do so. Although judges are no longer allowed to impose the death penalty without a jury's recommendation, Alabama still intends to carry out sentences sentenced in this manner.

Smith's first execution was attempted on November 17th. In 2022, it was in the midst of legal challenges and intense litigation seeking to overturn the attorney's order.

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Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the stay. The execution was halted after administrators faced a midnight deadline had problems accessing Smith's veins.

Let's fast forward to today. Tonight, by order of Governor Kay Ivey, Kenneth Smith is scheduled to become the first person to be executed by nitrogen gas. The word controversial doesn't do it justice.

While media outlets around the world have portrayed Smith's second execution in an unfavorable light, they frequently use words such as “untested” to describe the method. Governor Ivey and the Alabama Department of Corrections are moving forward with Thursday's execution.

Jake Yohn is a contributor to Yellowhammer News