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Alabama has executed the killer of Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen gas, the first time the death penalty method has been used in the US.
Smith, 58, lost two final appeals to the Supreme Court and one to a federal appeals court, arguing that the execution was cruel and unusual punishment.
In 2022, Alabama tried and failed to execute Smith by lethal injection.
He was convicted in 1989 of murdering a preacher's wife, Elizabeth Sennett. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Smith is the first person to be executed using pure nitrogen gas anywhere in the world.
Alabama and two other US states have approved the use of nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative method of execution because the drugs used in lethal injections have become harder to find, contributing to a decline in the use of the death penalty at the national level.
Five members of the media were transported by van to Holman Correctional Institution in Atmore to watch the execution.
"Tonight Alabama makes humanity take a step back," Smith said, according to witnesses. "Thank you for supporting me. I love you all."
After the gas began pouring into his mask, the prisoner reportedly smiled, nodded to his family and said "I love you."
Witnesses observed two to four minutes of shaking and about five minutes of labored breathing before he was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. local time (02:35 GMT).
Breathing nitrogen without oxygen causes cells in the body to break down and lead to death. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who did not respond to a request to attend the execution, confirmed Smith's death in a statement.
"After more than 30 years and attempts to game the system, Mr. Smith has answered for his horrific crimes," she said.
"I pray that Elizabeth Sennett's family can find peace after all these years. Attorney General Steve Marshall said it had proven to be "an effective and humane method of execution", dismissing the "dire predictions" of activists and the media.
"Justice has been served," he said in his statement.
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said Smith's swings at the throat appeared to be involuntary movements.
"This was all expected and was in the side effects that we have seen or researched on nitrogen hypoxia," Hamm said.
"Nothing was unusual from what we expected."
Alabama said in an earlier court filing that Smith was expected to lose consciousness within seconds and die within minutes.
Smith was one of two men convicted of killing Sennett in a $1,000 (£790) murder-for-hire in March 1988.
The 45-year-old was beaten with a fire extinguisher and stabbed in the chest and neck, and her death was staged to look like a home burglary.
Her husband Charles Sennett, a debt-ridden preacher, had orchestrated the scheme to collect the insurance money. He killed himself while investigators imprisoned him.
Smith's other killer, John Forrest Parker, was executed in 2010. At his trial Smith admitted to being present when the victim was killed, but said he did not take part in the attack.
In a statement, Smith's legal team said it was "deeply saddened" by his execution, noting that the jury in his case had voted to spare him life, but a judge overruled that decision.
"Nothing can undo the tragic consequences of the actions for which he was convicted, including the pain Sennett's family and friends have suffered," the lawyers said.
Earlier Thursday, the Alabama Department of Corrections shared details from the inmate's last 48 hours.
Smith was visited by members of his family, two friends, his spiritual advisor and his lawyer. He ate a breakfast of two biscuits, eggs, grape jelly, applesauce and orange juice. His last meal was steak and eggs with hash browns.
Alabama tried to execute Smith by lethal injection two years ago, but they were unable to freeze a vein before the state's death warrant expired. On Thursday night, the Supreme Court denied him a last-minute reprieve. Three liberal justices dissented from the conservative-led majority's decision.
"Having failed to execute Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has chosen to test a previously untested method of execution," said Justice Sonia Sotomayor. That decision came a day after the Supreme Court refused to take up another challenge from Smith.
Nitrous execution was denounced by some medical professionals, who warned that it could cause a range of catastrophic mishaps, ranging from violent convulsions to survival in a vegetative state.
Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for a stay of execution, saying that by nitrogen gas Smith could experience torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under international human rights law. to man.
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