The article discusses varying methods of executions across U.S. states, focusing on lethal injection, nitrogen inhalation, and firing squads. Lethal injection is the most common method, used in 39 out of 47 executions carried out in 2025. However, challenges such as pharmaceutical companies' reluctance to supply drugs for lethal injections have led some states to consider alternative methods like nitrogen inhalation or firing squads. The piece highlights several botched execution cases and raises concerns about the ethical implications and effectiveness of these methods.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The unprecedented botched execution of a woman in Tennessee has reignited the debate over execution methods in the United States — which varies from lethal injection to firing squads.
asserted
which → botch → squads
Methods used in the US
Methods vary by state.
asserted
Methods → use → state
States carry out the vast majority of executions, while federal executions are rare.
asserted
executions → carry → executions
Lethal injection, authorised in 28 states and at the federal level, remains by far the most common execution method since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976.
Of the 47 executions carried out in 2025, 39 were by lethal injection.
Five others were by nitrogen inhalation, a method first used anywhere in the world in the southern state of Alabama in 2024 and likened by UN experts to a form of “torture.”
asserted
others → authorise → torture
Three were by firing squad in South Carolina, marking the first use of that method in the United States since 2010.
asserted
Three → mark → 2010
But some states have struggled to obtain the necessary drugs from pharmaceutical companies reluctant to be associated with capital punishment.
asserted
states → struggle → punishment
This was the case, for example, in South Carolina, Utah and Indiana, which resumed executions in 2024 after suspending them for more than a decade for this reason.
asserted
which → resume → reason
In terms of frequency, electrocution and gas inhalation are, respectively, most common, each authorised in nine states, followed by firing squads, a method provided for in five states.
asserted
each → authorise → states
A litany of botched executions
No execution method is immune to the risk of spectacular failure.
asserted
method → botch → failure
In Alabama in 1983, John Evans’s leg caught fire after the first electric shock, while smoke rose from his hood and the smell of burning flesh began to fill the room.
asserted
smell → catch → room
It took three shocks in all before the condemned man’s heart stopped beating.
asserted
heart → take → shocks
In the northern state of Ohio in 2009, Romell Broom endured two hours of attempts by three members of the state’s execution team, who stuck needles into his arms, hands and legs 18 times in an effort to administer the lethal injection.
asserted
who → endure → injection
The first condemned prisoner to survive an execution attempt in the United States since 1946, he ultimately died of COVID-19 in his cell in December 2020.
Even firing squads, supposedly a more decisive method, present difficulties, Laura Porter, director of a coalition of US organisations campaigning to abolish the death penalty, told AFP.
asserted
Porter → condemn → AFP
During Mikal Mahdi’s execution in South Carolina in 2025, the shooters, “missed the target of the heart, and so it took longer for [him] to die,” she said, citing the autopsy findings.
asserted
she → miss → findings
Nitrogen inhalation was used “with severe, severe problems in Alabama,” and “it’s temporarily on hold,” she said.
asserted
she → use → hold
“I don’t believe that there is a perfect way to kill people,” Porter said.
asserted
Porter → believe → people
“Participating in execution is incredibly stressful and harmful to corrections officers,” she added.
asserted
she → participate → officers
US states generally respond to the most shocking failures by imposing a moratorium to revise their execution protocols or by introducing new execution methods.
asserted
states → respond → methods
Tennessee imposed a moratorium in 2022 before resuming executions by lethal injection in 2025 under a revised protocol.
asserted
Tennessee → impose → protocol
Alabama tried nitrogen inhalation in January 2024 following a botched lethal injection execution in November 2022.
asserted
Alabama → try → November
But Porter said no lasting solution would be possible until the secrecy surrounding executions was lifted.
asserted
secrecy → say → executions
“When there are problems with protocols, or when there are problems with the drugs, or there are problems with the competency of the execution team, it is very, very difficult to obtain any information until after the problem has happened because we are given no information about the execution process,” she said.
asserted
she → be → process
The Aporia
