Alabama is pushing to conduct another execution using nitrogen gas, just months after the state became the first to use this untested method for capital punishment.
On Monday, the attorney general's office requested the Alabama Supreme Court to set an execution date for Carey Dale Grayson, who was found guilty of the 1994 murder of Vickie Deblieux in Jefferson County. If approved, this would mark the third scheduled execution using nitrogen gas.
Earlier this year in January, the state executed Kenneth Smith, marking the nation's first nitrogen gas execution. Another execution using nitrogen gas has been scheduled for Alan Eugene Miller on September 26.
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Alabama wants to execute Cary Dale Grayson by nitrogen gas (Alabama Department of Corrections)
Kenneth Smith was the first inmate to be executed by nitrogen gas (Alabama Department of Correction)While lethal injection remains the primary method of execution in the state, inmates can opt for death by nitrogen gas or the electric chair. Following the execution of Smith using nitrogen gas in January, the state has started seeking execution dates for the numerous inmates who have chosen nitrogen as their preferred method of execution.
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This move comes amidst ongoing disputes and legal battles over what transpired during the first execution using nitrogen. During his execution, Smith experienced seizure-like convulsions for over two minutes while strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber. This was followed by several minutes of laboured breathing.
Alarm was expressed by advocates over the execution's course, stating it was a stark contrast to the state's promise of a swift and pain-free death. Alabama's Attorney General Steve Marshall labelled the execution as "textbook" and opened up the offer to assist other states in developing the new method.
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In its petition to the state Supreme Court, Alabama pointed out that in 2018, Grayson opted for nitrogen as his preferred execution method. They asserted that his death sentence could be executed by the "method of execution that he voluntarily elected", suggesting it was time to move forward. However, Grayson's lawyer opined that the method requires more scrutiny before it is utilised again.
"It is disappointing that the State wants to schedule a third nitrogen hypoxia execution before the question of whether the first one tortured Kenneth Smith has been resolved," said John Palombi, an attorney with the Federal Defenders Program. Though Grayson may have opted for nitrogen hypoxia over five years ago, Palombi noted that "he did not know what the procedure would be when he was forced to make this choice."
Nitrogen gas executions are extremely controversial (Getty Images/iStockphoto)"Now that he knows how Alabama will implement this method of execution, he has concerns that may only be resolved through a full trial on the question of whether this method, as Alabama chooses to implement it, is constitutional," he further added. Grayson was amongst four people charged with torturing and killing hitchhiker Vicki Lynn DeBlieux on February 21, 1994.
Prosecutors revealed that Ms Deblieux, 37, was hitchhiking from Tennessee to her mother's home in Louisiana when she was picked up by the four individuals. They transported her to a secluded woodland area where she was brutally attacked, beaten and thrown off a cliff. The then-teens later returned to further desecrate her body, stabbing her a shocking 180 times.
Grayson, along with Kenny Loggins and Trace Duncan, were all found guilty and sentenced to death. However, due to their age at the time of the crime - under 18 - Loggins and Duncan had their death sentences overturned following a 2005 US Supreme Court ruling prohibiting the execution of offenders who were minors when they committed their crimes.
Grayson was 19 at the time. Another teenager involved received a life sentence. Should the justices authorise the execution, it will be down to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to set the precise date.
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