Alabama Death Row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith on Thursday night became the first prisoner to die using a new untested method of execution in the United States—suffocation by nitrogen gas. …

Despite originally arguing nitrogen hypoxia as the preferred method of execution, Smith’s legal team has been seeking a halt to the latest execution for months – a method they are calling experimental.

In a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to stay his execution and review his case, Smith’s lawyers said the possible injury to the inmate “outweighs the harm that a stay would cause the State, and such relief is in the public interest.”

[In other words, Smith gamed the system and ended up gaming himself. The nitrogen-gas hypoxia method was what Smith and his team demanded as a way to delay the execution another several years, and that did work — but it ended up backfiring on him. It’s interesting to see how far down into this news report that part gets buried, however. — Ed]