Alabama Senate votes to allow execution by nitrogen gas

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Kim Chandler, Associated Press
 Updated 7:48 pm, Thursday, February 22, 2018

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama on Thursday moved closer to approving the use of nitrogen gas in executions, a method that has never been used to carry out a death sentence.

The Alabama Senate voted 29-0 for the bill that permits execution by nitrogen hypoxia if lethal injection drugs are unavailable or are ruled unconstitutional. The proposal now moves to the Alabama House of Representatives.

State Sen. Trip Pittman, the Republican lawmaker sponsoring the bill, said Alabama needs an alternative method of execution as lethal injection face legal challenges. Pittman said he believed the method could be more humane, likening it to how aircraft passengers lose consciousness if the plane depressurizes.

"It is a very humane way to carry out a serious sentence of death, which I believe is a deterrent to people committing crime," Pittman, a Republican from Montrose, said.




Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Alabama-Senate-votes-to-allow-execution-by-12633741.php

[Calista241]

1. This is a joke isn't it? n/t

[flyingfysh]

10. actually, it isn't

It probably is the least unpleasant way to die. The victim does not feel suffocated, because there is no buildup of carbon dioxide. He just loses consciousness. There was an incident a while back where people walked into a partially deflated helium balloon, and died very quickly from lack of oxygen. If they had felt short of breath, they would have gotten out immediately.

[unblock]

2. Every bit as humane as strangling with bare hands but without all the fuss

[forgotmylogin]

18. Video about Hypoxia - oxygen deprivation.

It seems you don't even need a lethal gas, just absence of oxygen.

[NutmegYankee]

25. Its actually quite peaceful - it kills in industrial settings with no warning.

Basically, the body doesn’t signal a lack of oxygen, just a buildup of carbon dioxide. That’s the “air hunger” you feel. In a high nitrogen gas environment, the carbon dioxide is getting expelled but not enough oxygen is getting brought in. The person feels at most some lightheadedness and just passes out.

It kills in industrial settings where nitrogen is being used to hydrostatically test piping or welding shield gas in a poorly ventilated area builds up.

[pangaia]

3. WHAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"It is a very humane way to carry out a serious sentence of death, which I believe is a deterrent to people committing crime," Pittman, a Republican from Montrose, said.

I suggest nitrous oxide..

[earthshine]

9. People have died doing "whip hits." Lack of O2. nt

[safeinOhio]

11. They dont die

They merge with the universe.

[angstlessk]

4. Are they to laugh themselves to death?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Big difference between nitrogen and nitrous. Look it up. . . nt

[angstlessk]

5. I absolutely demand public hanging

We all need to see it.....IF we want a deterrence that is it!

[PJMcK]

27. Public executions!

And bring back the guillotine. There's no such thing as a "humane" execution.

[Corgigal]

6. It's a very humane way to carry out a sentence of death.

Believed it would be more humane.

No, state you have a higher standard then I believe, what does scientists say?

[yonder]

7. "a serious sentence of death"?

And what is a not-so-serious sentence of death? WTF

[KY_EnviroGuy]

15. Working in tRump's White House. n/t

............

[yonder]

16. that seriously made me laugh

[dchill]

17. Me, too. But then I thought about it.

Comme ci, comme ça...

[yonder]

20. I had to look it up, thanks for the new phrase. nt

[3Hotdogs]

8. I believe the Hemlock Society suggests nitrogen as the recommended

choice for suicide.

[progree]

12. Hemlock Society and Final Exit Network favor helium ... well apparently not anymore

http://www.hemlockflorida.org/N-helium-kit.htm

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/29411514/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/assisted-suicide-group-members-are-arrested/#.Wo-XMGrwalw

Edited to add: Cautionary tales on use of helium:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Suicide/Suffocation/Helium

Edited to add:

(Death by helium asphyxiation, Dunn’s method as well as the once-preferred method by most exit guides—is virtually undetectable in medical autopsies. The group has since stopped recommending helium, suggesting nitrogen in its place, because manufacturers started adding oxygen to tanks to make them safer.)

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/07/the-volunteers-who-help-people-end-their-own-lives/489602/
http://www.finalexitnetwork.org/FEN_Fall_2016_Newsletter.pdf

[Crash2Parties]

13. GOP ought to love that, considering the source of helium

& their recent push for more nukes. Dig that ore!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

23. Death by helium: Convict, consider your last words very carefully, ...

... because when you speak those words, you will sound like Minnie Mouse. Cheers.

[syringis]

19. ???????

"It is a very humane way to carry out a serious sentence of death, which I believe is a deterrent to people committing crime," Pittman, a Republican from Montrose, said.

Serious sentence of death ? Do they have "joke" sentence of death in Alabama ?

A very humane way ??

Do they think of what they say or just spew whatever comes to their minds ???

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Today I found out Niels Bohr nearly died like this while being taken to Britain

When the news of Bohr's escape [from Denmark to Sweden] reached Britain, Lord Cherwell sent a telegram to Bohr asking him to come to Britain. Bohr arrived in Scotland on 6 October in a de Havilland Mosquito operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). The Mosquitos were unarmed high-speed bomber aircraft that had been converted to carry small, valuable cargoes or important passengers. By flying at high speed and high altitude, they could cross German-occupied Norway, and yet avoid German fighters. Bohr, equipped with parachute, flying suit and oxygen mask, spent the three-hour flight lying on a mattress in the aircraft's bomb bay. During the flight, Bohr did not wear his flying helmet as it was too small, and consequently did not hear the pilot's intercom instruction to turn on his oxygen supply when the aircraft climbed to high altitude to overfly Norway. He passed out from oxygen starvation and only revived when the aircraft descended to lower altitude over the North Sea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr#Manhattan_Project

[Grammy23]

22. I would appreciate a reference from Sen. Pittman to the evidence that the death penalty serves

as a deterrent to crime. Obviously the criminal put to death is no longer at risk of committing criminal acts. However, how effective is it in preventing others from committing serious crimes? Since that seems to be one of the often quoted “benefits” of having a death penalty, I’d like to see the study that shows that to be true. I suspect that one is bit like tRump’s favorite phrase, “everybody knows that blah, blah, blah...” without a shred of evidence.

[obamanut2012]

24. I am 100% agaunst the DP, and nothing can ever change my mind

Them doing this in any way is barbaric. If they must practice this barbarism, this is actually a painless way to die -- but, it is untested in this use ie as an execution method.

[matt819]

26. The death penalty

Has never been a deterrent.