Federal judge hears request to block an upcoming nitrogen gas execution in Alabama
Federal judge hears request to block an upcoming nitrogen gas execution in Alabama
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The state of Alabama urged a federal judge Tuesday to allow the nation's fourth execution with nitrogen gas to proceed next week, but a doctor who witnessed an earlier execution by the new method told the judge the inmate appeared to be in distress and awake minutes longer than officials predicted.
Alabama has carried out all three of the nation's executions using the gas and has set a Feb. 6 execution date for Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52. But attorneys for Frazier, who was convicted of the 1991 rape and murder of a woman in Birmingham, sought the hearing asking the court to intervene.
Frazier’s attorneys urged the judge to block the execution unless the state makes changes to its protocol, such as giving the inmate the same sedative used at the start of lethal injections before the gas begins flowing. Separately Tuesday, Frazier's mother and death penalty opponents asked Michigan's governor to bring Frazier back there to finish a life sentence in the state for a separate murder conviction in the killing of a 14-year-old girl. Michigan has no death penalty.
Alabama's method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen. The state maintained Tuesday that the method brings swift death. Dylan L. Mauldin, assistant solicitor general for Alabama, called Frazier’s legal maneuver a tactic to delay his execution and said the court should deny his request for a preliminary injunction. Mauldin noted the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled the method unconstitutional.
