JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
Who Is Reverend Jeff Hood? Witness Shares Chilling Account of Alabama Inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith's Execution By Nitrogen Gas
Rev. Jeff Hood called Thursday's execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith cruel and unusual punishment since nitrogen gas was used to kill him.
TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains references to an individual's death.
A spiritual adviser to Kenneth Smith, the criminal who became the world's first death row convict to be executed with nitrogen gas on Thursday night, broke down in tears as he described the "horror show" execution in Alabama.
According to the reports, Rev. Jeff Hood was present during the very heated execution of 58-year-old Smith, which lasted around 22 minutes from beginning to conclusion. According to the Wire, Smith trembled and writhed on the gurney for at least two minutes while the gas was flowing, occasionally attempting to tug on his bindings.
Who is Jeff Hood?
Jeff Hood is a death row minister who works with the national anti-capital punishment organization Death Penalty Action. He has served as a spiritual advisor to dozens of death row convicts around the United States over the last decade.
After watching Kenneth Eugene Smith's execution, his spiritual adviser, Rev. Jeff Hood, told Scripps News that it was the worst of the five he had seen. He described Thursday's execution of the convicted killer as torture and cruel and unusual punishment. Smith was the first person known to be executed with nitrogen gas. 
Hood said, "They thought it was going to look peaceful, they thought that he would just simply fall asleep. They repeatedly said in their filings that we would see someone lose consciousness in a matter of seconds, and there is no doubt that is not what I saw last night, and that's not what happened."
Hood added, "It's unbelievable that our country which runs around the world preaching human rights could let something like this happen. It looks as if they're simply falling asleep most of the time. With this, it was much more visceral, and you're seeing moments of excruciating pain and suffering, and the horror of last night will stick with me forever."
Supreme Court's refusal to stop the execution
According to Alabama officials, Smith died around 8:25 p.m. Thursday after breathing through a mask that delivered pure nitrogen gas. On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court refused Smith's bid to halt the execution. On Wednesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for Alabama to proceed with the execution. Smith had already survived an attempted execution in 2022, when authorities were unable to establish an IV line for a fatal injection.
ALSO READ: Who was Kenneth Smith? Alabama inmate met his end in first nitrogen gas execution in the US
Know more about Kenneth Smith
Latest Articles
