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USA - Arkansas. Nitrogen gas bill could restart executions
March 16, 2025: March 16, 2025 - Arkansas. Nitrogen gas bill could restart executions
If Gov. Sarah Sanders signs into law HB 1489, Arkansas executions could begin again.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R, and Sen. Blake Johnson, R, would allow nitrogen gas to be used for a nitrogen-hypoxia execution. The process carries a high concentration of nitrogen gas into an inmate’s respiratory system, replacing oxygen in the body and causing death.
HB 1489 cleared the Arkansas House on a 67-23 vote (March 11) and the State Senate by a vote of 26-9 (March 11).
Sanders can sign or veto the law or let it go into effect without her signature, but a 5-day signing period ends this week. The governor has not spoken publicly about her position on the bill, but her office did not seek to stop it as it moved through the legislative process.
Arkansas has not executed a death row inmate since serial killer Kenneth Williams’ death sentence was carried out on April 27, 2017 by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The execution was conducted by lethal injection from a cocktail of drugs that manufacturers have stopped providing to states due to public pressure.
Nitrogen gas executions have been conducted four times in Alabama. Other states, including Oklahoma and Mississippi, have passed laws and petitioned to carry out executions using nitrogen gas with Arkansas potentially joining that list.
There are presently 25 inmates on death row in Arkansas. 11 have exhausted their appeals and could be considered for execution, according to the state Department of Corrections; however, it is not certain that all 11 would be put to death by nitrogen gas.
HB 1489 outlines that the Corrections department shall provide written notice within 7 days to the condemned prisoner of the method of execution. If lethal injection is selected as the method of execution, the written notice shall include the name or names of the drug or drugs to be used in the execution, depending on the availability of the drugs.
The death sentence shall be carried out by electrocution if execution by lethal injection and nitrogen hypoxia under HB 1489 is invalidated by a final and unappealable court order. The measure also states that a death sentence shall not be reduced as a result of a method of execution being declared unconstitutional. The death sentence shall remain in force until the sentence can be lawfully executed by a valid method of execution.
The process for executing a death row inmate begins with the state’s attorney general notifying the governor that all appeals have been exhausted. The governor then sets a date for execution and the Department of Corrections follows a timetable leading up to that date.
The first known execution in Arkansas took place in 1820 when Thomas Dickinson was hung for murder, according to the Death Penalty Center. In 1913, Arkansas replaced hanging with electrocution. Since 1913, the state has carried out 200 executions, according to the Department of Corrections website.
In 1967, then-Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller declared a moratorium on executions and in 1970, he granted clemency to all 15 men on death row. There was not another state execution until 1990 when Arkansas passed a law allowing for lethal injections as a method of execution.
Executions in Arkansas are performed at the Cummins Unit near Grady, about 30 miles south of Pine Bluff.
https://talkbusiness.net/2025/03/nitrogen-gas-bill-could-restart-executions/ (Source: talkbusiness.net, 16/03/2025)
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