MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Attorneys representing Demetrius Terrence Frazier, a 52-year-old Alabama inmate slated to be the fourth person executed with nitrogen gas in the state, have petitioned a federal judge to halt the execution, citing concerns about the suffering endured by the first three inmates subjected to the same method.
Frazier is scheduled for execution on Feb. 6 for the 1991 murder and rape of Pauline Brown. His legal team filed a motion on Wednesday requesting a stay of execution unless modifications are made to the protocol, proposing that Frazier be administered a sedative before the introduction of the lethal gas. The filing referenced accounts from witnesses of the initial three nitrogen gas executions in Alabama.
Highlighting the experiences of past executions, Frazier’s attorneys argued in the court document, “The data set for nitrogen hypoxia executions is small — three — but provides clear results: Alabama’s method does not work the way defendants claim and necessarily causes conscious suffocation, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”
Alabama made history last year as the first state to carry out an execution using nitrogen gas. Three inmates were executed using this new method in the previous year. The process involves affixing a gas mask over the individual’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, leading to death by oxygen deprivation.
Media observers, including The Associated Press, recounted how the executed individuals convulsed on the gurney during the initial minutes of the process, followed by what seemed to be several minutes of irregular, labored breathing interspersed with lengthy pauses.
As of now, the Alabama attorney general’s office has not responded to the motion seeking to block Frazier’s execution. Previously, the state had moved to dismiss Frazier’s legal challenge to the execution method, contending that the movements exhibited by the inmates did not necessarily indicate suffering.
In a filing submitted on Christmas Eve, lawyers for Alabama argued, “He never confronts more likely causes of movement, including voluntary resistance or involuntary movements associated with dying, which can be misperceived as signs of consciousness or distress.”
Despite the recent executions using nitrogen gas, lethal injection remains the primary method of execution in Alabama. In 2018, Alabama became the third state to authorize the use of nitrogen gas for executing prisoners. Inmates were given a limited period to select their preferred method of execution, with Frazier among those choosing nitrogen gas, albeit at a time when specific procedures for utilizing the gas in executions had not been established.
Frazier was convicted of the brutal murder of Pauline Brown in her Birmingham apartment. Prosecutors maintained that Frazier, already in police custody in Detroit for an unrelated offense, confessed to the rape and shooting of Brown after stealing around $80 from her purse. A jury, by a 10-2 vote, recommended the death penalty, which was subsequently imposed by a judge.
