Controversy and contradiction: The death penalty in America
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2024
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Alabama has carried out the first execution by asphyxiation with nitrogen gas. Kenneth Eugene Smith was executed after a previous attempt involving lethal injection failed.
In this episode from January 2023, we heard about that botched execution and how states have been wrestling with how to carry out the ultimate penalty.
About:
Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, On Point is WBUR’s award-winning, daily public radio show and podcast. Its unique combination of original reporting, first-person stories, and in-depth analysis creates an experience that makes the world more intelligible and humane. Deep dives. Original stories. Fresh takes.
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Transcript
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| 0:42.2 | Hi, it's Megna Chachak Rabardi here today with a special drop in your on-point podcast feed. |
| 0:48.0 | This one is from the archives. |
| 0:50.5 | On Thursday night, Alabama carried out the planned execution of condemned inmate Kenneth |
| 0:56.1 | Eugene Smith. |
| 0:57.8 | He'd been accused and convicted of the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Senate. Smith had been paid $1,000 for the |
| 1:05.9 | murder by Senate's husband, Reverend Charles Senate Senior. Just prior to his |
| 1:11.7 | execution on Thursday night, Smith's final words included, |
| 1:15.6 | Tonight, Alabama caused humanity to take a step backward. |
| 1:19.4 | Mike Senate, Elizabeth Doreen's son, remembered his murdered mother in a statement, saying that |
| 1:26.6 | the family was not celebrating Smith's execution, but that, quote, we're glad this day is over. My mother got her justice tonight, end quote. |
| 1:37.2 | Smith was executed on Thursday night via nitrogen hypoxia, a highly controversial method that causes asphyxiation by forcing an individual |
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