Attorneys for Demetrius Terrence Frazier argued first three people executed through gas showed signs of suffocation. Attorneys for an Alabama prisoner scheduled to be the fourth person put to death with nitrogen gas asked a federal judge on Wednesday to block the execution, arguing that the first three people showed signs of suffering from suffocation as the gas flowed.
Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52, is scheduled to be executed on 6 February for the 1991 murder and rape of Pauline Brown. His attorneys in a court filing asked a judge to block the execution unless the state makes changes to the protocol, such as giving him a sedative before the gas begins flowing. The court filing cited witness descriptions of the state’s first three executions with nitrogen gas.
“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,” lawyers for Frazier wrote in the court filing.
Alabama last year became the first state to carry out an execution with nitrogen gas. Three prisoners were put to death using the new method last year. The method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the person’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen.
