Alabama death row inmate executed with nitrogen gas, nation's first by a new method in 42 years

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was executed in Alabama on Thursday night with nitrogen gas, a controversial method that causes oxygen deprivation that has been criticized as inhumane, following a failed last-minute legal battle. 

Smith, a convicted murderer, was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. local time at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. 

Prior to Smith's death sentence being carried out, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the second time in as many days that the state could proceed with using nitrogen hypoxia to execute Smith, refusing to block the nation’s first execution by a new method since 1982. 

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Jackson dissented.