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Alabama Man Executed By Nitrogen Gas For Woman's 1994 Murder

Crime and Justice News

Alabama executed Carey Dale Grayson, 49, for his role in the murder of Vickie Deblieux in 1994. Grayson was the third person Alabama has executed by nitrogen gas. Media witnesses reported labored and heavy breathing for nearly 10 minutes and some sudden muscle movements that officials described as involuntary, Alabama Reflector reports. Grayson, given a chance to deliver his last words, directed an obscenity at Terry Raybon, warden of Holman Correctional Facility, before staff pulled away the microphone. “Did you hear his statement?” asked Alabama Department of Commissioner John Hamm. “That was enough. He has cursed out most of our employees tonight, so we were not going to give him the opportunity to spew that profanity.” Hamm said the nitrogen flowed for about 15 minutes and that Grayson died almost 10 minutes after gas started to flow.


Deblieux’s daughter, Jodi Haley, told reporters, “I don’t know what it is like to have a mother while going through life, graduation, marriage, children, hurts and joys,” she said. “I have had to experience life without her presence because all those opportunities were stolen from her.” Haley said that “society failed (Grayson) as a child, and my family suffered because of it.” A jury convicted Grayson of Deblieux’s murder in 1996 and sentenced him to death. Deblieux, 37, was hitchhiking to her mother’s home when she encountered Grayson, then 19, and three other teens. The group took Deblieux to a wooded area and beat her to death. A 16-year-old who participated was given a life sentence. Two other group members, who were 17, were sentenced to death. Their sentences were changed to life in prison in 2006 after the U.S. Supreme Court barred capital punishment for people convicted for crimes committed while they were under 18. Alabama introduced nitrogen gas as a method of execution in 2018. Supporters said it would be a more humane method of putting people to death. Alabama executed Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen in January and Alan Eugene Miller in September. Media witnesses reported both men writhing and gasping through their executions.

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