LINCOLN- Nebraska would have an alternative to lethal injection when carrying out executions under a bill proposed in the Nebraska Legislature. LB970, sponsored by State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City and 17 other lawmakers, would permit “nitrogen hypoxia” — suffocation by inhaling nitrogen gas — to be used in capital punishment in the state. Lippincott said, “We need to make the execution of Nebraska law as humane as possible.”

The proposal drew an immediate response, however, from an anti-death penalty group, Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

‘The particular method of the state executing people does not resolve all of the things that are wrong with the death penalty in Nebraska,” said Spike Eickholt, who lobbies for the group. “Providing for gas chamber executions does not fix our broken death penalty.”

Lippincott said that the idea for his bill came from a constituent and that Nebraska would join three other states — Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma — in allowing the use of nitrogen gas in executions. None of those states has used nitrogen hypoxia, but Alabama is planning an execution with its use. Lippincott did mention that this would not be his priority bill.

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