Alabama Death Row Inmate Executed With Nitrogen Gas

A 50-year-old Alabama death row inmate, Carey Dale Grayson has become the third inmate in the U.S. to be executed by nitrogen gas.

Grayson was executed on Thursday, November 21, for the torture, bludgeoning, and mutilation of Vickie Lynn DeBlieux on Feb. 21, 1994.

Deblieux, 37, was hitchhiking from southeastern Tennessee to visit her mother in West Monroe, Louisiana, when Grayson, then 19, and three other teens picked her up along and soon after proceeded to kill her, court records say.

He was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m., according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

The execution is the 22nd in the U.S. this year and the sixth in Alabama, which has put three of the men to death using nitrogen gas, a controversial method that some witnesses describe as torture.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said after the execution that Grayson's movements at the beginning of the process appeared to be "for show."

When the nitrogen began flowing, Grayson tightly clenched his hands, took deep gasps, shook his head vigorously, and pulled against his restraints. He appeared to lose consciousness at 6:18 p.m., about six minutes after the gas began flowing.

Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement that "an execution by nitrogen hypoxia bares no comparison to the death and dismemberment Ms. DeBlieux experienced."

"I pray for her loved ones that they may continue finding closure and healing," she said.

Jodi DeBlieux Haley, who was 12 when her mother was murdered, talked about what a special person she was at a news conference following the execution.

"She was unique. She was spontaneous. She was wild. She was funny," Haley said. "She was gorgeous to boot. I don't know what it is like to have a mother while going through life. Graduation, marriage, children, hurts and joys. I've had to experience life without her presence because all those opportunities were stolen from her."