A man sentenced to death for the murder thirty years ago of a hitchhiker in Alabama, in the southern United States, was executed this Thursday, November 21, by inhalation of nitrogen, a process used for only the third time in the world.
“Alabama successfully used nitrogen hypoxia to carry out the execution of Carey Grayson,” state Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement.
Convicted in 1996
As in the two previous executions by nitrogen inhalation, in February and September (both in Alabama), UN experts warned on Wednesday that this method could constitute a form of “torture”, considering that it is “prohibited by international law “.
According to media attending the execution, Carey Grayson insulted the prison warden when he asked if he had any last words. Then, as the gas began to spread through his face mask, he shook his head from side to side.
The 49-year-old man gasped for several minutes before stopping moving, the same sources said.
Carey Grayson was convicted in 1996 of the murder committed two years earlier with three accomplices, then minors, of Vickie Deblieux. The 37-year-old woman was hitchhiking from Tennessee to her mother’s house in Louisiana and her body was found with stab wounds and mutilated post-mortem.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 American states. Six others (Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee) observe a moratorium on executions by decision of the governor.
Source: BFM TV
