in Alabama, the third execution of a prisoner sentenced to death by nitrogen inhalation

A man sentenced to death for the murder thirty years ago of a hitchhiker in Alabama, in the south of the United States, was executed on Thursday, November 21, by nitrogen inhalation, a process used only for third time in the world.

“Alabama has successfully used hypoxia [par inhalation] of nitrogen to carry out the execution of Carey Grayson »declared in a press release the attorney general of this state, Steve Marshall.

As in the two previous executions by nitrogen inhalation, in February and September – both in Alabama – United Nations experts warned on Wednesday that this method could constitute a form of « torture »believing that she was “prohibited by international law”.

According to members of the media who attended the execution, Carey Grayson insulted the warden of Holman Prison when he asked if he had any final words. Then, when the gas began to spread through the mask on his face, he shook his head from side to side. The 49-year-old man panted for several minutes before stopping moving, the same sources said.

Twenty-second execution since the start of the year

Carey Grayson was convicted in 1996 for the murder committed two years earlier with three accomplices, minors at the time, of Vickie Deblieux. This 37-year-old woman was hitchhiking from Tennessee to her mother's house in Louisiana and her body was found with stab wounds and mutilated postmortem.

The execution of Carey Grayson, which took place at Holman penitentiary, is the twenty-second in the United States since the beginning of the year, all by lethal injection, with the exception of the three carried out in Alabama.

The death penalty has been abolished in twenty-three of the fifty American states. Six others (Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) observe a moratorium on executions by decision of the governor.