An Alabama inmate convicted of killing a female hitchhiker in 1994 taunted prison wardens and made obscene gestures with his hands Thursday evening, moments before his execution using nitrogen gas, the third such death in the nation. did.
Carrie Dale Grayson, 50, was executed at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southern Alabama. He was one of four teenagers convicted of killing Vicki Debreu, 37, as she hitchhiked through Alabama on her way to her mother's house in Louisiana. Ta. The woman was attacked, beaten and thrown off a cliff.
Alabama death row inmate executed with nitrogen gas, first new method in 42 years
Strapped to a stretcher with a blue-rimmed gas mask strapped to his face, Grayson held up his middle fingers and cursed the prison warden. When the prison warden asked for a closing statement, Grayson responded with obscenities. The guard turned off his microphone. Grayson appeared to speak in the witness room along with state officials.
Death Penalty activist Abe Bonowitz led a protest outside the U.S. Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, on Monday against the state's planned nitrogen gas executions. (Kim Chandler/Associated Press)
It's unclear when the gas started flowing. Grayson shivered and tugged at the stretcher restraints. At one point, his legs, wrapped in a sheet, lifted off the gurney into the air. He then clenched his fists and appeared to struggle to make the gesture again, gasping for breath for several minutes before coming to rest.
Grayson was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m.
Alabama began using nitrogen gas for some executions earlier this year. The method involves placing a breathing gas mask over a person's face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death from oxygen deprivation.
The execution came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Grayson's request for a stay of execution. His lawyers had argued that the technique needed further scrutiny before it was used again.
Debreu's dismembered body was discovered at the bottom of a cliff near Odenville, Alabama, on February 26, 1994. Debreu was hitchhiking from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to her mother's house in West Monroe, Louisiana, when four teenagers offered to give her a ride. Prosecutors said the teens took her to a wooded area, assaulted her and beat her. They threw her off a cliff, then returned and mutilated her body.
The medical examiner testified that Debreu's face was so badly fractured that earlier spinal X-rays were used to identify her. Investigators said one of the teens was identified as a suspect after showing one of Debreu's severed fingers to a friend and bragging about the murder.
Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statement minutes after Thursday's execution, saying she still prays for closure and healing for the murder victims' loved ones, decades after the events.
carrie dale grayson (Alabama Department of Corrections, Associated Press)
“Nearly 30 years ago, Vicki Debreu's journey to her mother's home, and ultimately her life, was cut horribly short by Carrie Grayson and three other men. “He sensed that something was wrong and tried to run away, but instead he was brutally tortured and murdered,” Ivey said in a statement.
Grayson's crime was “heinous, unimaginable, inexplicably despicable and without any regard for human life. Execution by nitrogen hypoxia is in line with the death and mutilation experienced by Debreu.” There's no comparison,” he added.
Grayson was the only one of the four teens sentenced to death because the other teens were under 18 at the time of the killings. Grayson was 19 years old. Two of the teens were initially sentenced to death, but the sentence was put on hold after the Supreme Court banned the death penalty for offenders who were under 18 at the time of the crime. Another teenager involved in Debreu's murder was sentenced to life in prison.
Grayson's final appeal focused on calling for more scrutiny of the nitrogen law. His lawyers argued that the man had experienced “conscious asphyxiation” and that the first two nitrogen executions did not result in rapid unconsciousness and death as the state had promised. Lawyers for the Alabama Attorney General's Office asked the justices to proceed with the execution, saying a lower court had determined Grayson's claims were speculative.
Alabama argues that this method is constitutional. But critics say the method deserves more scrutiny, especially if other states follow Alabama's path, citing how the first two people were shaken for several minutes when they were executed. claims it is necessary.
Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, an organization that seeks to abolish the death penalty, said: “It is deeply concerning that gas asphyxiation has become the norm as a method of execution.”
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No other state other than Alabama has used nitrogen hypoxia to impose death sentences. In 2018, Alabama became the third state, along with Oklahoma and Mississippi, to authorize the use of nitrogen gas to execute prisoners.
As drugs used in lethal injection, the most common method of execution in the United States, become increasingly difficult to obtain, some states are exploring new ways to execute inmates.
