Alabama is poised to carry out a third execution using nitrogen gas, following a recent ruling by the state’s Supreme Court. This decision comes months after Alabama became the first state to implement the previously untested method of execution.
The Alabama Supreme Court granted the state attorney general’s request to schedule the execution of Carey Dale Grayson, who was one of four teenagers convicted in the 1994 murder of Vickie Deblieux in Jefferson County. The execution date will be set by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey.
In January, Alabama made headlines by executing Kenneth Smith in the nation’s first nitrogen gas execution. A second execution using this method is scheduled for September 26, targeting Alan Eugene Miller, who recently settled a lawsuit with the state concerning the execution method.
There is an ongoing debate between Alabama officials and defense attorneys about the events surrounding the first nitrogen gas execution. Kenneth Smith reportedly shook for several minutes while on the gurney during his execution on January 25. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall described the procedure as “textbook,” while attorneys for inmates argue that it fell far short of the state’s promise of a swift and humane death.
Grayson, who is currently challenging the nitrogen gas protocol in court, has raised concerns that the method causes unconstitutional levels of pain, citing Smith’s execution as evidence of “conscious suffocation.”
“We are disappointed that the Alabama Supreme Court has authorized the setting of an execution date before the federal courts have had a chance to review Mr. Grayson’s challenge to the constitutionality of Alabama’s current nitrogen protocol, and before Mr. Grayson has had an opportunity to review any changes to the protocol brought about by the recent Alan Miller settlement,” Matt Schulz, an assistant federal defender representing Grayson, wrote in an email.
Earlier this month, Miller reached a “confidential settlement agreement” with the state to resolve his lawsuit over the specifics of Alabama’s nitrogen gas protocol. However, the Alabama Department of Corrections has declined to comment on whether any procedural changes are being made as a result of this settlement.
The state has requested the dismissal of Grayson’s lawsuit, asserting that the execution method is constitutional and that his claims lack merit.
Grayson was convicted of torturing and killing Vickie Deblieux, 37, on February 21, 1994. Prosecutors stated that Deblieux was hitchhiking from Tennessee to Louisiana when Grayson and three other teenagers offered her a ride. They took her to a secluded area, where they attacked and killed her, later mutilating her body.
Grayson, along with Kenny Loggins and Trace Duncan, was sentenced to death. However, Loggins and Duncan, who were under 18 at the time of the crime, had their death sentences vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that offenders under 18 at the time of their crime could not be executed. Grayson was 19 years old at the time.
The fourth teenager involved in the crime was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2004, Alabama argued before the Supreme Court against setting an age cutoff for the death penalty, contending that it would be inconsistent to execute Grayson while sparing his co-defendants, whom the state described as equally, if not more, culpable in Deblieux’s death and mutilation.
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Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary method of execution, but inmates are given the option to choose the electric chair or nitrogen gas. Grayson had previously selected nitrogen gas as his preferred method of execution before the state had developed a process for its use.
