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#Post#: 533--------------------------------------------------
~ Kenneth E. Smith, 25Jan24, (AL) ~
DIR By: BuzzC
Date: October 26, 2022, 6:32 pm
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Alabama sets execution in murder-for-hire of pastor’s wife,
despite jury’s recommendation--
September 30th, 2022
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Kenneth Eugene Smith is set to die at William C. Holman
Correctional Facility on November 17, according to an order from
the Alabama Supreme Court.
Smith, now 57, will be executed for the slaying of Elizabeth
Dorlene Sennett, a 45-year-old grandmother and pastor’s wife who
was killed inside her north Alabama home. Her husband paid to
have her killed.
In 1996, Smith was convicted of capital murder for his
involvement in the killing. The jury in Smith’s case recommended
11 to 1 that he receive a life sentence without the possibility
of parole, but the trial judge overrode the jury’s verdict and
sentenced Smith to death.
If that situation unfolded in 2022, Smith would not be eligible
for the death penalty. In 2017, Alabama amended its
capital-sentencing laws to say a jury, not a judge, has the
final say on whether to impose the death penalty in capital
murder cases. The law did not allow for the new rule to be
applied retroactively to prisoners already on death row.
According to a 2021 order from the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals that detailed the crime, Reverend Charles Sennett, a
minister in the Church of Christ, recruited Billy Williams to
kill his wife. Williams then recruited Smith and another man
named John Parker. In return for the killing, Charles Sennett
agreed to pay each of the three men $1,000.
The plan was to kill Elizabeth Sennett in the family’s home and
stage her killing as a burglary gone wrong, according to the
court’s order.
Elizabeth Sennett was killed on March 18, 1988 inside her
Colbert County home by Smith and his accomplices, according to
the order. The county coroner testified during Smith’s trial
that Elizabeth had been stabbed eight times in the chest and
once on each side of the neck, and had also been beaten.
Smith also stole a video cassette recorder from the Sennett’s
home and kept it in his Lauderdale County house. Law enforcement
later found the VCR—a detail that has been argued in multiple of
Smith’s appeals, which have focused on the validity of the
search warrant used when the electronic was discovered.
“(Charles) Sennett was involved in an affair, had incurred
substantial debts, and had taken a large insurance policy out on
Elizabeth,” the appeals court’s order stated. “One week after
the murder, when the murder investigation started to focus on
him as a suspect, (Charles) Sennett committed suicide.”
Smith admitted his involvement in Elizabeth Sennett’s slaying to
police, court records show, and was initially convicted of
capital murder and sentenced to death. That verdict, however,
was overturned by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.
At his second trial, prosecutors brought into evidence both
Smith’s confession and the VCR. “Other than that, the State had
little evidence supporting its case against Smith,” the 11th
Circuit wrote.
Smith was again convicted of capital murder, but the second jury
voted to recommend a life without parole sentence.
The judge disagreed, and handed down a death sentence.
Parker was executed in 2010.
In Smith’s confession, detailed in court records, Smith gave
this account of the night of the murder:
“I knocked on the door and Mrs. Sennett came to the door. I told
Mrs. Sennett that her husband had told us that we could come
down and look around the property to see about hunting on it.
Mrs. Sennett asked my name. I told her I was Kenny Smith. She
went to the phone and called her husband and came back and told
us it was okay to look around...
I stood at the edge of the kitchen talking with Mrs. Sennett.
Mrs. Sennett was sitting at a chair in the den. Then I heard
John coming through the house. John walked up behind Mrs.
Sennett and started hitting her. John was hitting her with his
fist. I started getting the VCR while John was beating Mrs.
Sennett. John hit Mrs. Sennett with a large cane and anything
else he could get his hands on. John went into a frenzy. Mrs.
Sennett was yelling just stop, we could have anything we wanted.
As John was beating up Mrs. Sennett, I messed up some things in
the house to make it look like a burglary. I took the VCR out to
the car.
The last place I saw Mrs. Sennett she was lying near the
fireplace covered with some kind of blanket... When John got
back to the car we drove back to Billy’s apartment to get our
money.”
Smith also said he did not stab Elizabeth Sennett. During his
trial, Smith’s attorneys argued Smith participated in the
attack, but did not intend to kill Elizabeth.
“[Smith] agreed... to go beat Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, to
rough her up, to make it look like a robbery for fast cash. That
is the terms they used. It was not to kill Mrs. Sennett. It was
not to take her life. As shameful and as vile, it was nothing
more or nothing less than to beat her up and to take [sic].
  And that plan, what they agreed to... that as evil as
that plan was, that is all it was.
:(
#Post#: 543--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Kenneth E. Smith, 17Nov22, (AL) ~
DIR By: BuzzC
Date: November 18, 2022, 12:03 am
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Court clears way for Alabama to execute man in murder-for-hire
slaying of preacher’s wife--
Kenneth Eugene Smith was convicted in 1988. The order came down
about 90 minutes before the state’s midnight deadline to get the
execution underway.
Friday, November 18th, 2022
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Holman Prison in Atmore, AL
ATMORE, Ala. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the
way for Alabama to execute an inmate convicted in the 1988
murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife.
Justices lifted a stay issued earlier in the evening by the 11th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, allowing the state to proceed
with the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, 57. The order came
down about 90 minutes before the state’s midnight deadline to
get the execution underway.
Smith had raised concerns about problems with venous access at
the state’s last two scheduled lethal injections as he sought a
last-minute reprieve.
Prosecutors said Smith was one of two men who were each paid
$1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, who
was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance.
Sennett was found dead on March 18, 1988, in the couple’s home
on Coon Dog Cemetery Road in Alabama’s Colbert County. The
coroner testified that the 45-year-old woman had been stabbed
eight times in the chest and once on each side of the neck. Her
husband, Charles Sennett Sr., who was the pastor of the Westside
Church of Christ, killed himself one week after his wife’s death
when the murder investigation started to focus on him as a
suspect, according to court documents.
Smith’s final appeals focused on the state’s difficulties with
intravenous lines at the last two scheduled lethal injections.
One execution was carried out after a delay, and the other was
called off as the state faced a midnight deadline to get the
execution underway. Smith’s attorneys also raised the issue that
judges are no longer allowed to sentence an inmate to death if a
jury recommends a life sentence.
John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the slaying, was
executed in 2010. “I’m sorry. I don’t ever expect you to forgive
me. I really am sorry,” Parker said to the victim’s sons before
he was put to death.
According to appellate court documents, Smith told police in a
statement that it was, “agreed for John and I to do the murder”
and that he took items from the house to make it look like a
burglary. Smith’s defense at trial said he participated in the
attack but that he did not intend to kill her, according to
court documents.
In the hours before the execution was scheduled to be carried
out, the prison system said Smith visited with his attorney and
family members, including his wife. He ate cheese curls and
drank water, but declined the prison breakfast when it was
offered to him.
The execution of Joe Nathan James Jr. was delayed because of
problems establishing an IV line, leading an anti-death penalty
group to claim the execution was botched. In September, the
state called off the scheduled execution of Alan Miller because
of difficulty accessing his veins. Miller said in a court filing
that prison staff poked him with needles for over an hour and at
one point, they left him hanging vertically on a gurney before
announcing they were stopping for the night. Prison officials
have maintained the delays were because the state was carefully
following its procedures.
The state argued to let the execution proceed, saying Smith is
in a different situation than Miller, who is obese.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Smith’s request to
review the constitutionality of his death sentence.
Smith was initially convicted in 1989, and a jury voted 10-2 to
recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed. His
conviction was overturned on appeal in 1992. He was retried and
convicted again in 1996. This time, the jury recommended a life
sentence by a vote of 11-1, but a judge overrode the jury’s
recommendation and sentenced Smith to death.
In 2017, Alabama became the last state to abolish the practice
of letting judges override a jury’s sentencing recommendation in
death penalty cases, but the change was not retroactive and
therefore did not affect death row prisoners like Smith.
The Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama-based nonprofit that
advocates for inmates, said that Smith stands to become the
first state prisoner sentenced by judicial override to be
executed since the practice was abolished.
8)
#Post#: 544--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Kenneth E. Smith, (AL) ~
DIR By: BuzzC
Date: November 19, 2022, 8:42 am
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The execution was stopped in the middle. We can blame the SCOTUS
for not giving Montgomery enough time to complete the process
prior to the midnight hour. F*c* you SCOTUS!
#Post#: 622--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Kenneth E. Smith, 25Jan24, (AL) ~
DIR By: BuzzC
Date: January 22, 2024, 6:26 am
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Alabama plans to carry out first nitrogen gas execution. How
will it work and what are the risks?--
Sunday, January 21st, 2024
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama is preparing to use a new method of
execution: nitrogen gas.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, who survived the state’s previous attempt
to put him to death by lethal injection in 2022, is scheduled to
be put to death Thursday by nitrogen hypoxia. If carried out, it
would the first new method of execution since lethal injection
was introduced in 1982.
The state maintains that nitrogen gas will cause unconsciousness
quickly but critics have likened the never-used method of
execution to human experimentation.
WHAT IS NITROGEN HYPOXIA?
Nitrogen hypoxia execution would cause death by forcing the
inmate to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving him or her of the
oxygen needed to maintain bodily functions.
HAS IT EVER BEEN USED?
No state has used nitrogen hypoxia to carry out a death
sentence. In 2018, Alabama became the third state — along with
Oklahoma and Mississippi — to authorize the use of nitrogen gas
to execute prisoners.
Some states are looking for new ways to execute inmates because
the drugs used in lethal injections, the most common execution
method in the United States, are increasingly difficult to find.
HOW IS IT SUPPOSED TO WORK?
Nitrogen, a colorless, odorless gas, makes up 78% of the air
inhaled by humans and is harmless when breathed with proper
levels of oxygen.
The theory behind nitrogen hypoxia is that changing the
composition of the air to 100% nitrogen will cause Smith to lose
consciousness and then die from lack of oxygen.
Much of what is recorded in medical journals about death from
nitrogen exposure comes from industrial accidents — where
nitrogen leaks or mix-ups have killed workers — and suicide
attempts.
WHAT DOES THE STATE PLAN TO DO?
After Smith is strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber,
the state said in a court filing that it will place a
“NIOSH-approved Type-C full facepiece supplied air respirator” —
a type of mask typically used in industrial settings to deliver
life-preserving oxygen — over Smith's face.
The warden will then read the death warrant and ask Smith if he
has any last words before activating “the nitrogen hypoxia
system” from another room. The nitrogen gas will be administered
for at least 15 minutes or “five minutes following a flatline
indication on the EKG, whichever is longer,” according to the
state protocol.
The state heavily redacted sections of the protocol related to
the storage and testing of the gas system.
The Alabama attorney general’s office told a federal judge that
the nitrogen gas will “cause unconsciousness within seconds, and
cause death within minutes."
WHAT ARE THE CRITICISMS?
Smith's attorneys say the state is seeking to make him the “test
subject” for a novel execution method.
They have argued that the mask the state plans to use is not air
tight and oxygen seeping in could subject him to a prolonged
execution, possibly leaving him in a vegetative state instead of
killing him. A doctor testified on behalf of Smith that the
low-oxygen environment could cause nausea, leaving Smith to
choke to death on his own vomit.
Experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council
earlier this month cautioned that, in their view, the execution
method would violate the prohibition on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading punishment.
The American Veterinary Medical Association wrote in 2020
euthanasia guidelines that nitrogen hypoxia can be an acceptable
method of euthanasia under certain conditions for pigs but not
for other mammals because it creates an “anoxic environment that
is distressing for some species.”
IS THIS THE SAME AS THE GAS CHAMBER?
Not exactly. Some states previously used hydrogen cyanide gas, a
lethal gas, for executions. The last prisoner to be executed in
a U.S. gas chamber was Walter LaGrand, the second of two German
brothers sentenced to death for killing a bank manager in 1982
in southern Arizona. It took LaGrand 18 minutes to die in 1999.
WHO IS THE INMATE?
Smith was one of two men convicted of the 1988 murder-for-hire
of a preacher’s wife. Prosecutors said Smith and the other man
were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her
husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect insurance
money.
Alabama attempted to execute Smith in 2022 by lethal injection.
He was strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber being
prepared for lethal injection, but the state called off the
lethal injection when execution team members had difficulty
connecting the second of two required intravenous lines to
Smith's veins. Smith was strapped to the gurney for nearly four
hours, according to his lawyers, as he waited to see if the
execution would go forward.
ARE THERE LEGAL CHALLENGES?
The question of whether the execution can proceed will end up
before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Friday in
Smith’s request to block the execution. After the court rules,
either side could appeal.
Smith has argued that the state’s proposed procedures violate
the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. He has also argued that
Alabama violated his due process rights by scheduling the
execution when he has pending appeals and that the face mask
will interfere with is ability to pray.
In a separate case, Smith is arguing it would violate the
constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment for the state
to make a second attempt to execute him after he already
survived one execution attempt. Lawyers for Smith on Friday
asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution to consider
that question.
WHAT IS POTENTIALLY AT STAKE?
Lethal injection is the most commonly used execution method in
the United States, but death penalty states have struggled at
times to obtain the needed drugs or encountered other problems
in connecting intravenous lines.
If the Alabama execution goes forward, other states may seek to
start to using nitrogen gas.
If the execution is blocked by the court or botched, it could
halt or slow the pursuit of nitrogen gas as an alternative
execution method.
8)
#Post#: 623--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Kenneth E. Smith, 25Jan24, (AL) ~
DIR By: BuzzC
Date: January 25, 2024, 7:28 pm
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The state protocol plans to place a “full facepiece supplied air
respirator” over Smith’s face. Then, the nitrogen would be
administered for at least 15 minutes or “five minutes following
a flatline indication on the EKG, whichever is longer.”
Sentence has been carried out!
Governor Ivey’s office confirmed Kenneth Smith has been executed
by nitrogen hypoxia, time of death was 8:25.
“On March 18, 1988, 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett’s life was
brutally taken from her by Kenneth Eugene Smith. After more than
30 years and attempt after attempt to game the system, Mr. Smith
has answered for his horrendous crimes. The execution was
lawfully carried out by nitrogen hypoxia, the method previously
requested by Mr. Smith as an alternative to lethal injection. At
long last, Mr. Smith got what he asked for, and this case can
finally be put to rest.I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family
can receive closure after all these years dealing with that
great loss.”
8)
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