Humane Death or Dangerous Experiment: Nitrogen Gas Execution tried for first time

Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack will tell the story of a murder and why the man convicted of the murder will be put to death in a very unique way.

Kenneth Eugene Smith was convicted of the 1988 murder-for-hire of Elizabeth Sennett. Pastor Charles Sennett recruited Billy Gray Williams to kill his wife Elizabeth and Williams hired John Forrest Parker and Kenneth Eugene Smith to carry out the murder. A week after the murder, Charles Sennett confessed to his family and then shot himself in the head.

Williams, Parker, and Smith were arrested, charged and convicted. Williams was sentenced to life and died in prison in 2020. Parker and Smith were sentenced to death. Parker was executed by lethal injection in 2010. Smith was scheduled to be executed in November of 2022 but the execution team was unable to connect the intravenous lines before time ran out.

After much debate, the state agreed not to try lethal injection again on Smith but would instead use a method of execution: Nitrogen Hypoxia. Joseph Scott Morgan will explain what it is and why it is being tried for the first time...ever.

Transcript Highlights  

00:02:29 Joe talks about travel 

00:05:55 Talk Investigation of murder 

00:06:41 Talk about experience as death investigator 

00:08:37 Discuss sharing PTSD 

00:12:18 Talk about nitrogen  

00:14:21 Discussion Death Penalty 

00:18:56 Talk about execution used to be public  

00:21:30 Discussion about new method 

00:23:13 Talk about the Crime  

00:25:51 Talk Murder-for-Hire plot 

00:27:31 Discussion public execution 

00:30:24 Talk about the debate to come 

00:35:17 Discussion Is there a “best way” to kill somebody 

00:38:22 Talk about assisted suicide  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.