this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
169 points (96.7% liked)

News

23259 readers
3671 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Alabama is seeking to put a second inmate to death using nitrogen gas, a move that comes a month after the state carried out the first execution using the controversial new method.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to set an execution date for Alan Eugene Miller. The state said Miller’s execution would be carried out using nitrogen. Miller, now 59, was convicted of killing three people during a pair of 1999 workplace shootings in suburban Birmingham.

“The State of Alabama is prepared to carry out the execution of Miller’s sentence by means of nitrogen hypoxia,” the attorney general’s office wrote, adding that Miller has been on death row since 2000 and that it is time to carry out his sentence.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 88 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Alabama this week:

"All life is sacred in the eyes of God!!!"

"Gas that motherfucker til his eyes bleed!!"

[–] zcd@lemmy.ca 26 points 8 months ago (1 children)

But not in a chamber or anything, we’re gonna fuck it up with a mask and bottles of nitrogen and shit

[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social 34 points 8 months ago

I'm an opponent of the death penalty in general, but I've always felt that if a state is going to execute someone anyway and I can't stop that then at least they should be using inert gas asphyxiation. Because only a drooling moron could possibly mess that up and cause the process to be painful somehow.

Alabama once again manages to impress.

[–] pulverizedcoccyx@lemmy.ca 5 points 8 months ago

I hope nobody in charge watches Deadpool and sees how he got his powers.

[–] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 47 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Nitrogen Asphyxiation in the workplace is insanely dangerous specifically because humans (and most animals) don't have a way to detect nitrogen displacement...

The body detects hypoxia by build up of CO2, or more accurately carbonic acid, not loss of O2 - it doesn't expect for nitrogen to be the thing to displace all the oxygen, so you literally don't notice it. There's countless stories of people fainting and dying due to not realising the situation they were in.

So how in fuck's name did Alabama manage to botch it so badly that the first guy had an agonising death via seizure?? It takes a special kind of neglect to make that happen.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 25 points 8 months ago (2 children)

They put him in a mask instead of a sealed room. The mask filled with CO2, and may have not had a perfect seal due to thrashing as he struggled to breathe.

[–] Rakonat@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There are ways the masks could have worked but really to do this kind of thing humanly you need a sealed chamber with enough volume for CO2 to diffuse into or some kind of scrubber at the bottom pulling air out and displaced with pure N2 at the top.

It's difficult to tell if they are using the setup they are because of incompetence trying to seek out the cheapest solution, or malice and using the cheapest solution that will cause the maximum agony and suffering. It's pretty bad when bringing back hanging would be a more humane way of executing people than this travesty.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I don't understand how they even fucked it up. You have a very shallow mask with positive pressure from the nitrogen gas and a valve that opens when there is any extra pressure. Person breathes out CO2 and some nitrogen gas is expelled, person breathes in, almost only Nitrogen gas is inhaled. Am I missing something? I am not an engineer, but this seems like a way you could do it.

[–] Nudding@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Congratulations, you're now the mayor of Alabama.

[–] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Well that makes sense - without any exhaust, the volume of nitrogen available wouldn't properly displace the air from his lungs before he put the mask in...

So he could've essentially just died from regular asphyxiation, which is quite painful, with a side of nitrogen.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

Yes, that's what happened. He was tortured to death for over 20 minutes.

[–] fidodo@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Why don't they apply anesthesia first? If I can get conked out so bad that I can't remember getting my wisdom teeth removed wouldn't that totally knock you out before being gassed?

[–] driving_crooner 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You need a medic to administer the anesthesia and no medic is going to participate on that.

[–] fidodo@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

That's because if you mess it up you could kill somebody

[–] SilentStorms@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 8 months ago

Pharmaceutical companies will not supply those kinds of drugs for executions, because they understandably don't want their products associated with killing people.

[–] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 5 points 8 months ago

Done properly, the nitrogen is basically an anesthesiac. It knocks you out real good.

[–] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If they can't properly enact what should've been a painless execution, how do you expect them to properly anesthetise someone?

[–] fidodo@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Isn't the danger of improperly applying anesthesia that you could kill someone?

[–] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Of an overdose sure, but if they botch it the other way, there's a good possibility the prisoner never properly goes under or they wake up during the execution, either way experiencing the full pain of death.

That I'd figure is the worse of the results, and likely the one that'd happen given these guys seem to have a knack for torturous executions.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] normalexit@lemmy.world 25 points 8 months ago (4 children)

I feel like Alabama has been making some high profile bad decisions lately

[–] linearchaos@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean, we could, maybe not be killing people, but that failing, if they do it right the victim just euphorically slumbers away into death. It's not that hard you just give them nitrogen to breathe. How the f*** can they screw this up?

[–] normalexit@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I always thought suicide bags with nitrogen or helium were the way to go. I didn't read why the last guy had such a miserable death, but I did read it wasn't pretty.

I feel like they could put someone under some anesthesia and finish the job with the gas. Or even better, don't kill people, like you said.

[–] Chetzemoka@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Generalized convulsions are a pretty well-established effect of nitrogen toxicity.

"In the few experiments in which nitrogen was breathed for 17–20 sec unconsciousness supervened and was accompanied on most occasions by a generalized convulsion."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inert_gas_asphyxiation

Known in the scuba diving world as "getting narced" (nitrogen narcosis)

https://www.scuba.com/blog/dealing-nitrogen-narcosis-2/

"In severe cases, divers have been known to experience convulsions, possibly causing loss of consciousness in extreme cases."

[–] Jumi@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Not-so-sweet home Alabama

[–] Powerpoint@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 months ago

It all starts with conservatism and attacks on education

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 19 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They're trying to sneak in as much cruelty and obscenity as possible before the next generation gets into power and tries making everything fair and compassionate.

[–] ivanafterall@kbin.social 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was thinking a very similar thought just yesterday. So many of our major problems feel so much like old people being unable to die gracefully. "Well, fine, then I'll do as much damage as I can on the way out!" rather than, "I'd like this place to be better for my kids and grandkids when I'm gone."

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 6 points 8 months ago

I think part of it is their brain shutting down, inhibiting reasoning as they get older and as they come to terms with the fact they really are on the way out, they become more conservative and selfish while they still can.

Reverting into baby mode where they think their wants and needs supercede those of others.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Which Southern state is going to be the first one to livestream executions?

[–] Primarily0617@kbin.social 8 points 8 months ago (3 children)

100 bits to add another 10 volts to the chair

[–] ech@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago

This State condoned murder is brought to you by Squarespace™. Sign up for 3% off with offer-code "GASEM"!

[–] Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 8 months ago

They would get more money if they had an option to vote. 100 bits to vote whether it adds or reduces volts. People are gonna fight on whether they want the person to die quickly fried or slowly and painfully with a lower voltage.

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

1000 merits = 1 second

[–] tygerprints@kbin.social 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Those of you who read the news and watch it on TV know this already, but the execution last month by nitrogen gas was carried out AT THE REQUEST of the guy who was being executed. He wanted to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, it was something he felt strongly about.

And according to the AG who witnessed the process, it went really smoothly and was much less horrific than many other methods of execution.

[–] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

as if they didn't fuck up the first one enough, they're gonna do it AGAIN?? At this point I think we should follow in the footsteps of the Brazen Bull.

Stories allege after finishing construction on the execution device, Perilaus said to Phalaris: "His screams will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowings." Perilaus believed he would receive a reward for his invention. Instead, Phalaris, who was disgusted by these words, ordered its horn sound system to be tested by Perilaus himself, tricking him into getting in the bull. When Perilaus entered, he was immediately locked in and the fire was set, so that Phalaris could hear the sound of his screams. Before Perilaus could die, Phalaris opened the door and took him away. After freeing him from the bull, Phalaris is then said to have taken Perilaus to the top of a hill and thrown him off, killing him.

[–] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 6 points 8 months ago

They fucked it up, yes. Should they do the same procedure, no. Should they still use nitrogen executions, one of the least painful ways to die, yes, assuming you support executions at all.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for America to drop capital punishment

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Looks like Alabama is run by non-intelligent life forms. Because one key feature of intelligence is to be able to learn from past mistakes.

[–] bradorsomething@ttrpg.network 1 points 8 months ago

This man will never drop an embryo again.

load more comments
view more: next ›