Alabama Senate votes to use nitrogen gas in executions

Catherine Garcia, The Week US's avatar
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Anti-death penalty activists.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Alabama Senate voted 25-8 on Tuesday to allow the use of nitrogen gas in executions — a method that has yet to be tried out.

The bill, which would let inmates decide if they wanted to be put to death with nitrogen gas rather than lethal injection, now heads to the Alabama House. The bill's Republican sponsor, Sen. Trip Pittman, said the state needs to have another execution method in its arsenal since lethal injection continues to be challenged in court. Oklahoma and Mississippi both allow the use of nitrogen gas in executions, but have not used it.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.