Alabama prepares for third nitrogen gas application

An Alabama inmate convicted of a 1994 murder is set to die Thursday in the state’s third homicide nitrogen hypoxia application this year.

The emerging method of execution, which involves depriving oxygen and inhaling only nitrogen gas through a mask, continues to cause concern. possibility of long-term pain and whether there is an unconstitutional risk of additional pain.

But a federal appeals court this week allowed the execution of 50-year-old Carey Dale Grayson to proceed, rejecting arguments made by the inmate’s lawyers.

Image: Carey Dale Grayson — Carey Dale Grayson wanted his execution done with nitrogen gas. Alabama Department of Corrections via AP file

Grayson is set to die in state prison in Atmore for the kidnapping and murder of hitchhiker Vickie Deblieux when he was 19 and the other three defendants were under 18.

After the US Supreme Court ruled that the execution of teenagers was unconstitutional, the defendants’ death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

protesters sent a petition He’s asking Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to halt Grayson’s execution. His office did not respond to a request for comment, but he is not expected to act as an intermediary. Montgomery Advertiser When asked this month that the state would carry out an execution a week before Thanksgiving: “Has Carey Grayson ever thought about the fact that Vickie Deblieux and her family have now been deprived of 30 Thanksgivings?”

Grayson’s lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, saying his case raises “issues of national importance” among death penalty states, such as “whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits strangulation of a conscious prisoner and whether a state refuses to prevent strangulation of a conscious prisoner by a new method.” he wrote. “His execution increases terror and suffering in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”

The high court generally refuses to intervene in last-minute requests to halt executions. Alabama refused to do this applied Kenneth SmithHe became the first person to die in a nitrogen gas execution in the United States in January and September. Executed Alan Miller in a second application of nitrogen gas.

Eyewitness accounts of both executions stated that the men struggled while being strapped to a stretcher and fed nitrogen. Smith, 58, did not lose consciousness as quickly as expected and It looked like it was shaking and writhing. Miller, 59, braced himself for two minutes and held his breath periodically for about six minutes. According to reports.

Alan Eugene Miller — Authorities escort Alan Miller out of jail in Pelham, Ala., on Aug. 5, 1999.Dave Martin/AP file

In both cases, Alabama initially attempted to execute the men by lethal injection, but those attempts were abandoned when prison staff were unable to successfully create intravenous lines.

A series of problematic executions using lethal injection have led Alabama authorities to Pause implementation in 2022 and reevaluate before them restart Ed last year. Since then, Alabama has become the first state to develop a nitrogen hypoxia execution protocol in addition to lethal injection.

Lethal injection remains the default method in the state, but inmates can choose nitrogen hypoxia or, in some cases, electrocution.

Grayson selected nitrogen hypoxia before a protocol for it was in place.

“Alabama State’s nitrogen protocol was used twice and did not work as they swore. Instead of taking a logical approach and resolving the issue, they continue to use the same method on Thursday,” Grayson’s attorney, John Palombi, said.

“Mr. Grayson’s execution must be halted and the protocol must be fully, independently and transparently reviewed,” he added.

The use of nitrogen has raised concerns among human rights groups; because states were looking for viable alternatives to lethal injection, a method that was becoming increasingly difficult due to shortages of necessary drugs.

Nitrogen, a naturally occurring, colorless and odorless gas, can cause physical side effects such as respiratory distress, vomiting and even death if not mixed with sufficient oxygen. medical experts say.

According to experts, a small amount of oxygen entering the prisoner’s mask due to the prisoner breathing nitrogen during the execution can slow down asphyxiation and prolong the time to death.

In his argument before the appeals court panel this week, Palombi expressed concerns about how long Smith and Miller were conscious as their bodies responded to the procedure.

“I would submit to the court that being conscious and suffocating for a period of time constitutes terrorism added to this protocol that doesn’t need to happen, which is acknowledged by the fact that the state is willing if requested to do so. “Give Mr. Grayson a sedative,” said Palombi of the Federal Defender Program.

Alabama’s assistant attorney general, Robert Overing, disagreed with Palombi’s assessment, countering that nitrogen hypoxia is not like suffocation “like suffocation, plastic bag asphyxiation, or paralysis of the lungs.”

Overing told the court: “This is really an apples and oranges attempt to use the term ‘suffocation’ by this method to induce a sense of fear and pain that does not exist.”

Grayson is expected to be the sixth person executed in Alabama this year.

Prosecutors say that in February 1994, he and three teenage friends – Kenny Loggins, Trace Duncan and Louis Mangione – were using alcohol and drugs when they encountered Deblieux, 37, who was hitchhiking in Alabama to see his mother in Louisiana.

They beat Deblieux, threw him off a cliff and dismembered his body, including cutting off his fingers, according to court records. Prosecutors said those people were linked to the crime after Mangione pointed the finger at Deblieux to his friends.

Grayson, who was 19 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to death, while Mangione, who was 16, was sentenced to life in prison. The death sentences of Loggins and Duncan, who were both 17, were later commuted to life imprisonment.

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