On November 17th, 2022, the state of Alabama tried to kill Kenneth Smith.

I was strapped down, couldn't catch my breath, I was shaken like a lead.

Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 for his role in the Murder for Higher killing of Elizabeth

Senate. On that night in 2022 he was meant to be executed by lethal injection but workers couldn't

find a vein to place an IV.

Over the course of an hour Smith says he was jabbed with needles in his arms, hands, and collarbone.

I was absolutely alone and I a room full of people and not one of them tried to help me at all.

And I was crying out for head.

Smith's attorneys called it cruel and unusual punishment. Alabama's governor ordered a

review of the state's lethal injection protocol. Meanwhile, State Attorney

General Steve Marshall blamed Smith for running out the clock with what he called

frivolous claims in court.

It was a travesty of justice not for Kenny Smith, the twice convicted murderer who was

scheduled to be executed that day, but it was for Elizabeth Senate and for the members of her

family.

Now, Kenneth Smith, one of only two people alive who've survived execution attempts in this country faces death again.

On Thursday the state of Alabama plans to execute him using a different method, one that's

never been used in the U.S. before.

As the date approached Smith called NPR

Investigative reporter Kiara Eisner on a scratchy line with a 15 minute time

limit he talked to her about what happened and what he's worried about.

Everybody is telling me that I'm going to suffer.

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