Kenneth Eugene Smith sits in his Alabama prison cell with a story that defies belief - he's a man who survived his own execution. The 58-year-old death row inmate endured what many would consider the ultimate nightmare: a 22-minute botched lethal injection procedure that ultimately failed to end his life.
The Night the Execution Went Horribly Wrong
On that fateful November evening, Smith was strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber at William C. Holman Correctional Facility. What followed was a scene of mounting horror as medical staff struggled for nearly half an hour to find a suitable vein for the lethal cocktail.
"They were jabbing me over and over," Smith recalls, the trauma still vivid in his memory. "Needles going into my neck, my hands, my arms - anywhere they thought they might find a vein that would work."
A Procedure Gone Awry
The execution team worked frantically as the clock ticked past the scheduled time of death. Smith describes being positioned at an extreme angle, head downward, while multiple staff members attempted simultaneous intravenous access points.
- Medical staff attempted vein access in both arms and hands
- Multiple needle insertions were made in his neck area
- The procedure extended to 22 minutes of repeated attempts
- Officials ultimately called off the execution
Psychological Aftermath of Survival
Smith now lives with the psychological scars of knowing the state tried and failed to execute him. "You don't come back from something like that unchanged," he reveals. The experience has left him with chronic insomnia and what he describes as severe post-traumatic stress.
"Every time I close my eyes, I'm back on that gurney," Smith confesses. "The fear doesn't go away just because they untied me."
Legal and Ethical Questions
The failed execution has sparked renewed debate about lethal injection protocols and the ethical implications of subjecting inmates to multiple execution attempts. Smith's case represents one of the most dramatic examples of capital punishment procedures going catastrophically wrong.
As Smith awaits his fate, having cheated death once, he faces an uncertain future and the haunting knowledge that the state may try again to execute him - a prospect that fills him with unimaginable dread.
