New execution system

The Guardian- The US’s newest execution method, nitrogen gas, appears headed toward a legal showdown amid a widening controversy over whether it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.  The supreme court late on Thursday rejected the state of Alabama’s request to execute prisoner Jeffrey Lee with nitrogen gas, and the rebuke culminates a week of setbacks for Alabama. The method has raised concerns for its apparent brutality. Eugene Smith, the first person to die by nitrogen hypoxia, thrashed and writhed on the gurney, according to witnesses. The last nitrogen execution, of Anthony Boyd, appeared to take more than 30 minutes as Boyd shuddered and gasped.