The dynamics of photodissociation of propenal at 193 nm are studied by detecting laser-induced fluorescence of nascent fragment HCO in its transition B 2 AЈ -X 2 AЈ. Rotational states up to N ϭ30 and Kϭ3 of HCO X 2 AЈ are populated and vibrational states ͑000͒, ͑010͒, and ͑001͒ are detected. The K a ϭ1 doublet states and the two spin states for all vibrational levels detected are nearly equally populated. Much less rotational excitation is observed than the distributions calculated on a statistical model-phase space theory. This implies that dissociation occurs from the triplet channel with a small exit barrier. Small rotational excitation arises from the repulsive part of the exit barrier and the geometry of the transition state on the triplet surface. Experimental data yield an energy partitioning with translation, rotation, and vibration of HCO at 3.0, 1.3, and 1.5 kcal/mol, respectively, in total accounting for 11.5% of available energy. These results indicate that the other fragment C 2 H 3 has 3.2 kcal/mol of translation and 42.5 kcal/mol of internal energy; hence, most C 2 H 3 is expected to undergo secondary dissociation to C 2 H 2 and H. Because the appearance of HCO is faster than that calculated based on the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory, other decay pathways dominate the pathway of the radical channel from the triplet surface.