When Kenneth Smith Initially contacting the Reverend Jeff Hood to be with him during his execution in January, Smith's first question was: “Are you ready to die to be my spiritual advisor?”
“Well, of course, that was absolutely shocking,” Hood says on the eve of Smith's planned death. “He knew I was intense enough or loyal enough about my work that I would probably sign a waiver. I signed the waiver to show Kenny that I was committed to him.”
Smith, an Alabama inmate scheduled to be executed Thursday afternoon, will write a kind of macabre story when he enters the death row at William C. Holman Correctional Institution. He will be the first person to be put to death by nitrogen gas, a method of execution by asphyxiation that has never been used in the United States — and Hood will be at his side throughout the untested process. “I think it's important to say that this is the first time in human history that other people who are not being executed are at risk of being executed,” says Hood, who claims the facility has not provided him with a security plan. The jail did not immediately respond Rolling rockhis request for comment. “My children are terrified. My wife is doing her best.”
The road to the death chamber was long for Smith, who was sentenced to death in 1989 for the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Sennett. Pastor Charles Sennett Sr. recruited Smith, along with two others, to kill his wife in their home for her life insurance money.
Sennett killed himself soon after being named as a suspect, while Billy Gray Williams, one of the mercenaries who was not present at the murder, died in prison in 2020, and John Forrest Parker, who also participated in the murder, was executed. in 2010. Smith was initially sentenced to death, but after an appeals court ordered a new trial, the jury voted to give him life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge, however, overruled the jury and sentenced Smith to death in 1996, a practice no longer allowed in Alabama.
In 2022, Smith survived one failed attempt during execution by lethal injection, and in May 2023, the Supreme Court appeal denied by state officials to once again attempt to execute Smith through this method. Smith chose lethal gas instead, even though the procedure had not yet been tested. Still, according to Marshall Project, lethal injection has been in flux for decades — ever since pharmaceutical companies began refusing to sell these drugs to prisons and the horrors of botched executions began to be highlighted in the press. “I'm still reeling from the first run and now we're doing it again,” Smith told the Guardian of his own experience. “They won't let me have PTSD — you know, that's persistent stress disorder.”
On Wednesday, the high court ruled once again that Smith could be killed, this time by nitrogen gas, which his lawyers argued could leave Smith potentially brain-dead or with serious physical injuries if the process is unsuccessful.
Hood met Smith after attending a number of executions after the The Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that inmates could bring spiritual advisers to the death row. “What's important to me is to tell these guys that I'm not just serving the soul, I'm serving the body, because I don't believe you can separate them,” Hood, an ardent anti-death penalty activist, says. “I tell my men you can't be in the business of saving souls if you're not in the business of saving bodies.”
As such, Hood spent the last six months with Smith, preparing for that final day as well as trying to raise awareness of the untested and potentially inhumane execution method. “I know this is going to sound weird, but it's almost like my job to be their best friend,” he says. I become their best friend to be there with them as they get murdered.”
In the past week, she has alternated between comforting Smith through bouts of vomiting and panic attacks and organizing protests. “He's doing horrible,” she says of Smith. “He's going to experiment with it. But at the same time, we've worked so hard to get to this place where we're committed. We will fill every second with love and life, love and life, love and life, love and life.”
On Thursday, Hood arrived at the jail at 8 a.m. to spend the day with Smith, who will not be allowed to eat after 10 a.m., a development Hood said he only learned Wednesday. Smith's last drink and food will be at 4pm, when he will celebrate the Eucharist. He, his family and Hood will then begin awaiting the execution, which will take place sometime after 6 p.m. Hood has not been given time. “We will definitely pray together,” he says. “Then they'll put him on a leash in the garage. I will go in and anoint his head with oil. Until they come and get me then I'll go back into the room and he'll be wearing the mask at that point.”
Hood expressed concerns for his safety – and that of the guard in attendance – as a gas leak could go undetected due to the toxic nature of nitrogen and its odorless, colorless properties.
Sennett's family also plans to be at the execution, which has a very different meaning for them than for Hood. “Why should we suffer?” Elizabeth's son Charles Sennett told local news. “And some of these people out there are like, 'Well, she doesn't have to suffer like that.' I also appealed for my butt. But I think the appeals are done. Everything is ready. I don't know what else you can appeal.”
Hood seems to share that last sentiment at least. “Hope dies last,” he says. “But I'm not feeling extremely optimistic right now.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/kenneth-smith-spiritual-advisor-guidance-execution-alabama-1234954182/
