While some states have passed or are considering legislation to allow nitrogen gas executions, Fordham Law Professor Deborah Denno, death penalty expert and founding director of Fordham Law’s Neuroscience and Law Center, comments on how widely the method will be used, in this USA Today article.
The Constitution does not guarantee inmates a painless death. But Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University, pointed out judges have deemed certain execution methods cruel and unusual punishment in the past.
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The litigation over nitrogen gas might make other states hesitant to use it, Denno said. But she said death penalty states have remained “desperate” to execute their prisoners despite legal challenges and botched executions using many of the country’s other methods.
“That desperation may outweigh this litigation that’s going on here,” she said.
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President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January directing the attorney general to help states secure the lethal drugs. Experts said it’s not clear what the federal government could do because the primary issue is that pharmaceutical companies do not want to publicly provide drugs for lethal injections.
Though it does not yet appear to be an issue, states could eventually run into the same problem securing gas for executions. Multiple manufacturers of medical-grade nitrogen gas told The Guardian last year they would not allow their product to be used in capital punishment.
“Nitrogen gas is easier to get than lethal injection drugs, but that’s only right now,” Denno said.