Ohio politicians may be poised to consider whether the state might break its unofficial moratorium on the death penalty by following Alabama in using nitrogen gas to execute inmates.

Ohio hasn’t executed anyone since 2018. In 2020, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine declared lethal injection “no longer an option,” citing a federal judge’s ruling that the protocol could cause inmates “severe pain and needless suffering.”

Republican state Attorney General Dave Yost scheduled a news conference Tuesday to discuss “next steps to kickstart” Ohio’s capital punishment system. He has expressed support for the nitrogen gas method used for the first time in Alabama last week, when convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was put to death with nitrogen gas administered through a face mask to deprive him of oxygen.

    • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      This will inevitably come out to be not accurate for human executions. And it’s sickening to think about the number of victims will be tortured before the courts put a stop to it. Once again theirs a difference between none sentient animals unknowingly asphyxiating or a terminally ill person who’s on other drugs to make the transition easy. But go on. This idea is no different than what was found about lethal injection, the electric chair, and the first gas chamber. (people were adamant about those being quick and painless until the glaring evidence became to large to wave off by animal experiments.) Sad to see so many people not have a sceptical eye on how the government chooses to kill people.

      • HubertManne@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        The accidents were humans. it was the mask with the prisoner for sure in this case. don’t get me wrong. executions just should not happen but this is as humane as you get. this is how I would go out to avoid the end stages of a horrible disease.

        • Cogency@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Except the more you resist it, the more you suffer. If you hold your breath there is not enough time to displace the gas contents of you lungs and bloodstream. Your body will be full of the toxic and suffocating co2 gas and you will drown for 22 minutes like the guy executed clearly did.