Kenneth Eugene Smith will be the first person in the world to be executed using nitrogen gas, for his 1988 murder of Elizabeth Sennett.
Smith was meant to be executed by a lethal injection in 2022, but this was botched by executioners failing to find veins to administer their injection through.
Smith's accomplice was also given the death penalty and was killed in 2010.
But who was Elizabeth Sennett? And why did Smith kill her?
Read below to find out.
Elizabeth Sennett (pictured with her husband Charles Sennett Sr) was murdered age 45 on March 18, 1988
Kenneth Eugene Smith (pictured) was one of two men dealt the death sentence for the murder, having been hired by the victim's husband
Who was Elizabeth Sennett?
Elizabeth ('Liz') Dorlene Thorne Sennett was born on December 10, 1942, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Charles Sr. had encountered trouble with debt and wanted to capitalise on insurance payouts after his partner's death
She was murdered on March 18, 1988 - aged 45 - in Sheffield, Alabama, and is buried in nearby Red Bay.
At the time of her death, she had a husband, Charles Sennett Sr., and two sons - Charles Sennett Jr. and Mike Sennett.
Charles Sr was a pastor, while Charles 'Chuck' Jr told 1819 News that his mother was a 'all-American housewife'.
Chuck was only 25 at the time of his parents' deaths and added: 'She never held a full-time job that I remember but she was a homemaker, housewife, mother, confidant, best friend, however, you want to think of your mother.
'She was a smart woman, a preacher's wife, had good values. She had me and my brother towing the line. She wasn't really strict but she taught us right from wrong.'
Why did Kenneth Eugene Smith kill Elizabeth Sennett?
Elizabeth, 'Liz', had two children - Charles JR. and Mike - at the time of her death
After being suspected of his wife's murder, Charles Sr., killed himself on March 25, 1988
Faced with debt troubles, Charles Sr hired a man called Billy Gray Williams to kill his wife, who wanted to collect on insurance - worried she would discover their financial state.
Williams recruited Smith and John Forrest Parker to assist in carrying out the murder - which was framed as a home invasion gone wrong.
Smith and Parker were said to be receiving $1,000 each for their involvement.
John Forrest Parker (pictured) was given a lethal injection in 2010 for his part in the murder
Williams was eventually handed a life sentence and died in prison, while Smith and Parker were sentenced to death in 1989, and then again in 1996 after a retrial.
Parker was executed in 2010, but Smith's death warrant was finally handed out 12 years later in November 2022.
However, the executioners failed to administer a lethal injection in time, in one of a string of botched executions in Alabama.
As a result of such failings, the state became the third to bring in plans to use nitrogen gas as a method of execution.
Smith's second execution, scheduled for January 25 2024, was the first case on the planet of the method being used to kill a convict.
What happened to Elizabeth Sennett's husband Charles Sennett?
Sheriff Ronnie May, one of the first on the scene of the crime in 1988, recalled to Al.com that Charles Sr. reacted oddly to finding out that his wife was found with a pulse before being declared dead at hospital.
The pastor was eventually called in for questioning a week later, and May said he turned red at the mention of the murderers' names.
He reportedly left the interview and went to his church, where he met his family, admitted to having an affair and having his wife killed before killing himself.
Charles Sr and Elizabeth are buried in a joint grave.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2BdHyPbmxua1%2BMtbB5qp6lp52knXqGwcaepZ5lg6K2tbSMr6CcrJmieoa4yLOYm52knXqUsc2nnK2sXp3Brrg%3D