No. That will burn your lungs like hell. You'll feel like actually suffocating. Nitrogen is an inert gas, so you won't even feel it, another one is helium. You'll pretty much lose consciousness after just a couple breaths and then fade away quietly. It's very commonly used in suicide bags and there's modern assisted suicide methods that use it too.
I think death penalties are barbaric and uncivilized, no matter what, but comparatively it's probably better than almost anything the US used historically.