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Revisionist History

The Alabama Murders - Part 6: The Porterfield Sessions

with Kate Porterfield, Linda Smith, Lee Hedgepeth

Published October 30, 2025
View Show Notes

About This Episode

Malcolm Gladwell explores the life and psyche of death row prisoner Kenny Smith through the work of psychologist Kate Porterfield, who evaluated him after Alabama's botched attempt to execute him by lethal injection. Porterfield explains the unique physiological and psychological impact of mock and botched executions, situates Kenny's crime within a history of severe childhood abuse and family dysfunction, and reflects on how trauma and unconditional child-to-parent love shape later violence. The episode ends by tracing Kenny's deteriorating mental state, previewing his second execution via nitrogen gas, and questioning the human cost of the system that tried to kill him twice.

Topics Covered

Trauma Prison system Mental health Parenting and child development Religion and spirituality Criminal psychology Personal narrative Death penalty and executions

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Quick Takeaways

  • Psychologist Kate Porterfield situates Kenny Smith's botched execution within a broader category of trauma akin to mock executions, which leave a deep physiological and psychological imprint.
  • Kenny's life story reveals a childhood marked by domestic violence, parental alcoholism, and early caregiving responsibilities that shaped his later behavior and vulnerabilities.
  • Porterfield emphasizes that children's love for abusive parents is often unconditional, which complicates and intensifies their suffering.
  • Through years of treating traumatized people, Porterfield argues that many perpetrators of serious violence were themselves deeply harmed as children, challenging the simple victim-versus-villain framing.
  • In their first in‑person meeting, Kenny chose to talk for hours about the love he received from his family before the execution attempt, using that as both a coping mechanism and a central part of his identity.
  • After the failed execution, Kenny experienced nightmares, intrusive images, nausea, exhaustion, and eventually depression as he tried to make sense of being nearly killed by people he knew.
  • The episode closes by previewing Alabama's new nitrogen gas execution method and highlighting concerns that what was promised as a painless death did not match what observers saw.
  • Gladwell uses Kenny's story to question how the criminal justice system fails to see the traumatic roots of crime and the human cost of capital punishment.

Podcast Notes

Recap of Kenny Smith's botched execution and introduction of psychologist Kate Porterfield

Previously on Kenny Smith's attempted execution

Kenny was taken from his cell believing his execution was imminent and strapped to a gurney[2:21]
• He asked corrections officers what was happening as he was prepared for execution
Medical personnel struggled for hours to establish IV access to carry out the lethal injection[3:08]
• Kenny was left strapped to the gurney for three and a half to four hours, leaving him unable to stand or dress himself afterward without assistance
An anesthesiologist points out that professionals in good standing do not typically participate in executions by placing IV lines[2:39]
• This highlights the difficulty of finding qualified people to perform the invasive procedures required by executions
Kenny's lawyers contacted psychologist Kate Porterfield about 10 days after the botched execution[3:48]
• They did not know her previously but sought help because their client was struggling after the failed execution attempt

Introduction and background of Kate Porterfield

Kate is a psychologist specializing in trauma who consulted on Kenny Smith's case[3:50]
• She has worked on dozens of death row cases in her career
• Her experience includes extensive consulting at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay
• She treated patients at the Clinic for Torture Victims at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan
Malcolm learned about Kate through a friend who described her as having "the strangest job in America"[4:15]
• He began a series of open-ended conversations with her that eventually led to hearing about Kenny Smith
Kate introduced Malcolm to Kenny Smith's case, which deeply affected her[4:33]
• Through Kate, Malcolm first heard about the murder of Elizabeth Sennett and Kenny's involvement

Kate Porterfield's first contact with Kenny Smith and his immediate reaction to the botched execution

Kenny's self-description as institutionalized yet stable before the execution attempt

Kate's first contact with Kenny was by phone and she describes the call as "remarkably unpleasant"[4:52]
• Despite the tone, she emphasizes that Kenny was generally a resilient man
Kenny had been on death row for 34 years and said he was "very institutionalized"[5:02]
• He told Kate he knew how to live in prison, had made a life there, and had a good set of friends inside
• He also had strong relationships outside prison, including a prior marriage and ongoing relationships with his children
Kenny described himself as having been through a lot but emotionally stable before the failed execution[5:34]
• He contrasted his long-term stability with how he felt after November 17th, saying he was now "falling apart"
Kate interprets his statements as a signal that he was normally sturdy, but the execution attempt "really messed" him up[5:46]

Kate's mandate in working with Kenny after the botched execution

Kate spent many hours with Kenny over the following year via phone and in-person prison visits[5:56]
• Her aims included understanding what happened in the execution chamber, assessing the damage, and writing an evaluation for Kenny's legal team
• She was also driven by a broader desire simply to understand who Kenny was as a person
Malcolm frames this installment as an attempt to see Kenny through Kate's eyes[6:29]
• The time frame for their interactions is between late 2022 and the winter of 2023, after the failed execution

Mock executions, physiological trauma, and why Kenny's botched execution is uniquely damaging

Kate's early experience with a torture survivor subjected to a mock execution

Kate recalls an older male patient at Bellevue's torture clinic, a refugee from a war-torn country[7:08]
• He had been imprisoned, tortured, and made to believe he was about to be executed, though no actual execution took place
She describes mock execution as an "unimaginable horror" with a severe physiological imprint[7:30]
• Her therapeutic goal was to gently guide him back to the traumatic memories to understand them and help him heal
The patient sat rigidly, gripping the chair and resisting revisiting the experience[7:55]
• It took a long time in therapy before he could begin to speak about the mock execution

Other forms of mock execution and their effects

Kate later worked with several other patients who experienced variations of mock execution[8:27]
• Examples include a gun believed to be loaded held to a person's head, near-drowning where someone is held underwater almost long enough to die, and being left in a cage with a lion
She concluded that such experiences deserve their own category of trauma[8:26]
• They are distinct because the victim genuinely believes death is imminent, triggering an extreme terror response

Physiological imprint and reactivation of mock execution trauma

Kate describes the terror of believing you are about to die as beyond ordinary fear[8:36]
• People often lose control of bodily functions like bladder or bowel and may cry out in horror
When patients try to recount these experiences, they often "fall apart" emotionally and physically[8:52]
• Kate recalls a disciplined, controlled man who collapsed in his chair and clutched his head when describing a gun held to his head during a ransom threat
• He repeatedly said his head hurt and that he could not continue, suggesting a powerful physiological flashback
Kate explains that trauma becomes imprinted in the body and memory is tightly linked to the fear reaction[9:44]
• When someone recalls being told they were about to die, their body reenters the terror state automatically

Why Kenny's experience goes beyond a mock execution

Kate immediately recognized that Kenny belonged in this special category of trauma[10:10]
• However, in his case, the execution was not a mock; officials genuinely intended to kill him
The execution attempt was an orchestrated, slow, systematic process carried out by people Kenny knew[10:39]
• Some of the men in the room had been his guards for years, yet they were now participating in trying to end his life
Kenny perceived that the guards themselves became rattled but still continued under orders[10:58]
• Kate sees this as an unsettling example of what people will do when following orders, even when it involves prolonged suffering

Details of the invasive procedures during the botched execution

Execution staff repeatedly poked Kenny's feet and arms with needles attempting to place an IV[11:18]
• At one point, they inverted the gurney so his feet were up, leaving him that way for what Kate recalls as 20 to 30 minutes
They appeared to be trying to get blood to flow to parts of his body to access a vein[11:31]
• After returning, they injected him with something Kenny and Kate believe was likely a painkiller and then began probing around his neck and collarbone
Kate doubts that anyone participating in or witnessing such acts could emerge emotionally unscathed[11:55]

Kenny's coping during the execution attempt, spiritual conflict, and Kate's assessment work

Kenny's mental strategy and desire to speak with families during the execution

Kenny wanted to apologize to the victim's family and say goodbye to his own family, but during the procedure he was alone with the execution team[11:59]
• He believed they were killing him before witnesses could arrive, depriving him of those final exchanges
To stay calm during "dead time" while strapped on the gurney, Kenny rehearsed a mental ritual[12:19]
• He imagined turning to the right to face the victim's family and say "I'm sorry" and turning to the left to tell his own family "I love you"
• This mental choreography helped him pass the time and maintain some sense of agency and purpose

The confusing ending of the botched execution and religious language

Eventually, staff began untying the tourniquet on his arm and told him, "It's over now"[12:53]
• A member of the team whom Kenny did not know added, "It's over, and I'll be praying for you"
Kate describes these human moments as "unmanageable" for Kenny afterward[13:15]
• Within a short span, these people first tried to kill him, then stopped, and one invoked God and prayer, creating overwhelming cognitive and emotional dissonance
The warden's reported comment, taking Kenny's head and saying "this is what's best for you," was another moment he found distressing[14:15]
• Such interactions complicated his efforts to understand the intentions and morality of those around him

Kenny's faith and its collision with the execution experience

Kenny's core belief system centers on his faith in God[13:30]
• He believes his faith "saved" him as a man, not in the narrow sense of the execution outcome but in a broader spiritual and personal sense
Having someone who had just tried to kill him say they would pray for him created a spiritual and emotional collision[13:47]
• Kate notes that this combination of near-death terror, confused motives, and religious language was something Kenny could not grasp or process

Scope of Kate's engagement with Kenny after the attempt

Kate had 17 lengthy phone sessions with Kenny and traveled twice to Alabama to meet him in person[14:27]
• After reconstructing the events of November 17th, she also took a detailed life history from him, leading into his background story

Kenny Smith's family background, childhood abuse, and path toward the crime

Kenny's parents, siblings, and his father Gene's behavior

Kenny's full name is given as Kenneth Eugene Smith, named after his father Wesley Eugene (Gene) Smith[17:38]
• Kenny and his brother Joey shared their father's middle name, reflecting the father's imprint on the family
Linda Smith, Kenny's mother, still lives in the Shoals region and is interviewed about their family life[17:47]
• She says Gene died around age 45 and they had five children together in quick succession, with Kenny the eldest
Linda recalls that Gene did not initially want a child and was still "sowing wild oats"[18:04]
• She describes his substance use as centered more on pills ("uppers and downers") than alcohol
Gene spent much of his time on the road as a truck driver and maintained another relationship, which Linda says involved an underage girl and a pregnancy[18:40]

Domestic violence witnessed by Kenny and his siblings

Linda says Gene continued to visit her, sometimes to sleep with her and often to hit her[18:40]
• She believes his violence was driven by jealousy and his own behavior, suspecting he projected his conduct onto her
Linda describes physical assaults including being hit in the head and having a bottle thrown at her, leaving a visible scar[19:24]
• She recounts being knocked to the floor, slapped, and beaten even though she was focused on raising Kenny
When recalling a specific incident with the bottle, Linda says a friend from work was at the house and Kenny was present[20:02]
• Gene came in unexpectedly "in a rage" and assaulted her in front of her child
Linda recalls Kenny and his brother Joey responding by running to the couch and sitting there during such episodes[20:23]
• She estimates Kenny was around three or four during some of these attacks, witnessing violence from a very young age
Linda remembers Kenny hugging her afterward and telling her things would be okay[20:53]
• She implicitly portrays him as offering emotional comfort despite being a small child himself

Testimony from a co-worker about Gene's abuse at Linda's job

A waitress who worked with Linda testified at Kenny's sentencing about Gene's behavior in the restaurant[21:03]
• She said Gene would take Linda's tip money and, if it wasn't enough for his liking, would slap and beat her in the restaurant
The co-worker described Gene cornering Linda in the hallway, hitting her with his fist, and tearing her uniform pocket while grabbing money[21:46]
• She testified this occurred two to three times a week and that Gene "always made a point to hit her around the eyes"

Death of Kenny's infant brother and impact on Linda

Linda and Gene's fifth child, Michael, died shortly after birth because his lungs never developed[22:12]
• In testimony, Joey said Gene blamed Linda for Michael's death, and she eventually began to accept the blame and drink heavily
When asked if Linda still drinks, Joey answered no, implying she stopped later in life[22:36]
Joey described Kenny as the one who took care of their intoxicated mother[22:36]
• Kenny, as a child, would put a cold rag on her head, clean vomit from the floor, and try to lift her into bed because she was a big woman
Joey estimated Kenny was about eight or nine when he first saw him doing this caretaking[22:54]

Kenny's adolescence, drinking, and lead-up to the crime

Joey testified that Kenny began drinking around age 16 and later drank too much[22:18]
Kenny later met a woman, had a child named Michael after his deceased brother, and moved into a house in Florence[23:28]
• A high school friend eventually approached Kenny about making quick money by roughing someone up, leading toward the crime with John Parker
• Kenny and John Parker drove in Parker's Pontiac Grand Prix with a hunting knife and a bottle of Wild Turkey on the console, setting out to do what Kenny had seen others do many times

Unconditional child-to-parent love, Kate's own trauma, and generational cycles of abuse

Unconditional love from children toward parents

Kate and Malcolm digress into a discussion about parenting and what she has learned as a mother of three daughters[26:51]
• Kate cites writer Kathryn Harrison's memoir about her father, which contains a line about unconditional love in parenting
Harrison's insight is that the unconditional love often comes from child to parent, not primarily from parent to child[27:25]
• Kate says she sees this repeatedly in patients who were abused as children but still love and yearn for their parents
She notes that such patients hunger for memories that highlight the good parts of their parents despite terrible behavior[27:45]
• In terms of their inner sense of self, they cling to attachment to the parent even when it has harmed them

Kate's own experience of assault and its role in her interest in trauma

Kate reveals that, shortly after college, she was attacked by a stranger who beat her up[28:03]
• She later understood that she developed PTSD and that it took her years to recover
This personal experience contributed to her professional interest in treating trauma[28:18]
• However, she emphasizes that she had no ongoing relationship with her attacker and could ultimately frame it as bad luck in time and place

The added suffering when the attacker is also a loved one

Kate asks listeners to imagine if the attacker were not a stranger but someone you love deeply and continue to return to[28:40]
• She argues that this scenario-where love compels a child to keep coming back to an abusive parent-is a distinct and profound kind of suffering
Kate notes that many mothers of her clients were themselves sexually abused as children[28:55]
• She sees abuse "perpetrating and perpetrating" through generations, highlighting intergenerational trauma

Learning about normal child development by seeing it go wrong

Kate says that although she was trained in child development and psychology, she truly understood healthy development only by seeing cases where it broke down[29:26]
• Repeatedly working with men who committed serious crimes and then watching them sob over childhood abuse clarified for her how early harm shapes later behavior
She describes a man, covered in tattoos and known to have killed people, who broke down recounting being raped at age eight by an older family member[29:59]
• This man, seen as scary and dangerous by others, is revealed in her office as a deeply hurt child inside an armored adult exterior
Kate conceptualizes his adult persona-tattoos and violent reputation-as "warrior" armor built over a hurt little boy[30:26]

Silence, community awareness, and the impact on the abused child

When Malcolm asks how often this man had spoken of the abuse, Kate answers that he had never talked about it before[30:56]
• She later visited his family and learned that everyone knew a particular older relative was sexually abusing children, including this man, yet nothing had been done
There was no treatment, assessment, law enforcement intervention, or accountability, despite the abuse being "100% known"[31:19]
• Kate asks listeners to imagine the effect on the child's sense of self: learning that people hurt you, everyone knows, and there is never any recourse

Reinterpreting Kenny's childhood love for his father and the link between trauma and crime

Kenny's interactions with his abusive father as seen by a co-worker

The waitress who worked with Linda testified that she never saw Kenny run up happily to his father Gene when he appeared[31:42]
• At first, Malcolm interpreted this as Kenny simply not wanting to run to Gene, but after discussions with Kate he sees a deeper tragedy
Malcolm now believes the real tragedy is that Kenny likely wanted to run up and hug his father but understood, even as a child, that doing so was impossible and unsafe[32:05]

Crime emerging from a cascade of prior harms

Malcolm states that Kenny's crime was not an isolated event but "came at the end of a long cascade"[32:30]
• He connects this cascade to years of family violence, neglect, and trauma described earlier
Kate argues that society prefers to separate people into victims and bad guys, but this misses the reality that many offenders have been seriously harmed themselves[32:37]
• She emphasizes that people who commit violent or criminal acts are often doing so after experiencing maltreatment, abuse, or violence earlier in life
She notes that criminal justice often fails to recognize how much "bad behavior" is rooted in trauma[33:09]

Kenny's first in-person session with Kate: love, avoidance, and pre-death experience

Kenny's focus on love and goodbyes before the execution attempt

At their first in-person meeting in December 2022, about a month after the botched execution, Kenny spent the first two hours talking about his goodbyes[33:30]
• He described in detail the love he received from his family as he prepared for execution, the phone calls, his last meal, and conversations with each family member
Kenny recounted his last visit with his mother, including her walking out of the visiting room and turning back to look at him[34:29]
• Kate notes that "it was all about love"-Kenny wanted to dwell on the affection and connection surrounding him

Kate's interpretation of Kenny's emphasis on love and his avoidance

Initially, Kate thought Kenny was avoiding talking about the execution itself by focusing on everything else around it[34:17]
• He did in fact spend significant time narrating events other than the procedure-the farewells, logistics, and emotional exchanges
Over time, she recognized both avoidance and something deeper at work[34:55]
• As their relationship developed, she could tease him about his "gift of gab" and his efforts to keep her off the hardest topics
Kenny openly admitted he did not want to revisit the execution experience, saying he became nauseous and sweaty and begged her not to make him[35:09]
• Kate distinguishes between his understandable avoidance and the genuine meaning of his long, loving pre-execution narrative
She concludes that Kenny had what she calls a "pre-death experience of intense love"[35:33]
• For a man who fully believed he was about to die, those final expressions of love became central to his experience and identity

Kate's unique ability to see trauma, Kenny's psychological trajectory, and the approach of a second execution

Malcolm's reflection on Kate's capacity to see beyond surface narratives

Malcolm quotes art critic John Ruskin: "Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think but thousands can think for one who can see"[35:47]
• He positions Kate as someone who can truly "see" after a lifetime of working with severely traumatized people
Through her eyes, we see a different Kenny Smith-one deeply in pain over what happened and what lay ahead[36:03]

Kenny's symptoms after the botched execution and slide into depression

Kate reports that Kenny suffered severe nightmares in which he was executed over and over[36:16]
• These nightmares left him tormented at night and exhausted during the day
He experienced significant nausea and recurring intrusive images related to the execution attempt[36:27]
• Over several weeks, he began to engage in dark meaning-making, questioning how people he knew could do this to him
Kate says he eventually became "full-on depressed" in the spring following the execution attempt[36:50]
• His psychological course moved from classic post-traumatic stress symptoms into a deeper depressive episode before he partially emerged from it
Just as he began to come out of depression, a second execution date was scheduled[37:02]

Preview of the second execution by nitrogen gas and closing credits

Family goodbye before the second execution

In a preview of the next episode, Linda recalls Kenny calling and saying, "Well, Mom, they're coming to get me"[37:28]
• She describes them saying their goodbyes, with Kenny's last words to her being, "I love you, Mom. I've had a go"

Description of Alabama's nitrogen gas execution method and an observer's reaction

A speaker explains the theory behind using nitrogen gas: because it is not noxious, the condemned person would breathe it without knowing and then lose consciousness and die[37:48]
• This method was presented as a way to avoid distress for the prisoner during execution
The observer emphasizes they are not a medical professional and cannot opine medically on what happened to Kenny[38:15]
• They note that only the person executed could truly describe whether he experienced pain, and he is not alive to do so
The observer states that what they saw "did not look like what Alabama had advertised" regarding the nitrogen execution[38:28]

Credits and production details

Malcolm lists the producers, reporters, editor, fact-checker, executive producer, engineering, scoring, and sound design teams behind the episode[38:56]
• He notes that Revisionist History is produced by a team including Lucy Sullivan, Ben Nadaf-Haffrey, Nina Byrd-Lawrence, and others

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Trauma, especially experiences of imminent death like mock or botched executions, imprints itself deeply in the body and mind, and those physiological and emotional reactions can be reactivated whenever the memory is revisited.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What intense experiences in your life still trigger strong physical or emotional reactions when you think about them?
  • • How might acknowledging the bodily side of your stress or fear change how you approach healing or coping?
  • • What is one small, concrete step you could take this week to process a difficult memory in a safer, more supported way?
2

Many people who commit serious crimes have themselves been profoundly harmed as children, so understanding behavior requires tracing the full cascade of experiences rather than reducing people to simple categories of victim or villain.

Reflection Questions:

  • • When you think about someone whose behavior you judge harshly, what do you know-and not know-about their early life and experiences?
  • • How could considering the possibility of a "long cascade" of causes before an action help you respond more thoughtfully in conflicts or leadership decisions?
  • • What current situation in your work or community might benefit from you asking, "What happened to this person?" instead of only "What did they do?"
3

Children often love their parents unconditionally, even in the face of abuse or neglect, which means that betrayal by caregivers can create a particularly deep and confusing kind of suffering.

Reflection Questions:

  • • How have your early attachments to caregivers, for better or worse, shaped the way you relate to authority and intimacy now?
  • • In what ways might you still be protecting an idealized image of a parent or mentor, and how does that affect your choices today?
  • • Where could you offer more compassion-to yourself or others-by recognizing that loyalty to family can coexist with real harm?
4

Unaddressed abuse and trauma can silently perpetuate across generations when families and communities "know" but do nothing, underscoring the importance of speaking up, intervening, and creating avenues for treatment.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What harmful patterns have you seen repeat across generations in your own family or community?
  • • How might you safely and constructively disrupt a pattern you've noticed, rather than assuming "that's just how things are"?
  • • Who could you involve-professionals, trusted peers, or family members-to ensure that serious problems are not left as open secrets?
5

Deep listening-asking about and making space for people's hardest experiences-can reveal the wounded child beneath even the most intimidating exterior, opening possibilities for understanding and change.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Whose story in your life do you mostly see only from the outside, without really knowing what they've lived through?
  • • How could you change the kinds of questions you ask in conversations to invite more honest, deeper sharing when it's appropriate?
  • • What is one relationship where you could practice listening with more curiosity and less judgment over the next month?
6

In the midst of extreme fear and powerlessness, consciously anchoring to love-through rituals, memories, or connections-can be a powerful coping strategy that helps preserve dignity and a sense of self.

Reflection Questions:

  • • When you've faced intense stress or uncertainty, what memories, people, or values have helped you stay grounded?
  • • How might you build small rituals of connection or gratitude into your routines so they're there when crises arise?
  • • What is one specific way you could remind yourself of who and what you love during your next challenging moment at work or at home?

Episode Summary - Notes by Jordan

The Alabama Murders - Part 6: The Porterfield Sessions
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