Alabama carries out third execution using nitrogen gas

The 22nd Execution of 2024

Alabama death row inmate Carey Dale Grayson on November 21, 2024 became the third inmate in the U.S. to be executed by nitrogen gas, reported the USA Today.

Grayson, 50, was executed for the torture, bludgeoning and mutilation of Vickie Lynn DeBlieux on Feb. 21, 1994. Deblieux, 37, was hitchhiking from southeastern Tennessee to visit her mother in West Monroe, Louisiana, when Grayson, then 19, and three other teens picked her up along and soon after proceeded to kill her, court records say. He was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m., according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

The execution is the 22nd in the U.S. this year and the sixth in Alabama, which has put three of the men to death using nitrogen gas, a controversial method that some witnesses describe as torture.

Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement that "an execution by nitrogen hypoxia bares no comparison to the death and dismemberment Ms. DeBlieux experienced."

"I pray for her loved ones that they may continue finding closure and healing," she said.

Jodi DeBlieux Haley, who was 12 when her mother was murdered, talked about what a special person she was at a news conference following the execution.

"She was unique. She was spontaneous. She was wild. She was funny," Haley said. "She was gorgeous to boot. I don't know what it is like to have a mother while going through life. Graduation, marriage, children, hurts and joys. I've had to experience life without her presence because all those opportunities were stolen from her."

Here's what you need to know about Grayson's execution, including his last meal and last words, and why Haley is opposed to the death penalty despite the devastating loss of her mother.

What were Carey Dale Grayson's last words?

Unlike many inmates who deliver last words that are apologetic to their victims’ families and loving to their own families, Grayson cussed and flipped his middle fingers.

When given the chance to say his last words, he said: “Yeah … you need to (expletive) off!” His microphone was quickly cut off and the execution process began.

When the nitrogen began flowing, Grayson tightly clenched his hands, took deep gasps, shook his head vigorously and pulled against his restraints. He appeared to lose consciousness at 6:18 p.m., about six minutes after the gas began flowing.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said after the execution that Grayson's movements at the beginning of the process appeared to be "for show."

What was Carey Dale Grayson's last meal?

Grayson's last meal was soft tacos, beef burritos, tostada, chips, guacamole, and Mountain Dew Blast.

What was Carey Dale Grayson convicted of?

On Feb. 21, 1994, DeBlieux was dropped off by a friend in Chattanooga near Interstate 59, where she began catching rides southwest. At some point, Grayson − who was 19 − and three other teens picked DeBlieux up along a Jefferson County interstate in Alabama, about 15 miles northeast of Birmingham.

The teens stopped at a wooded area on Bald Mountain, and proceeded to beat, stomp and kick DeBlieux. Testimony showed Grayson and another teen stood on her throat to kill her.

Her body was eventually tossed off a cliff but the teens returned later and mutilated her corpse, cutting the body at least 180 times, removing a portion of a lung and cutting off her fingers, court records show.

The teens became suspects in the murder when one of the boys showed one of DeBlieux's fingers to a friend.

In addition to Grayson, a jury convicted Kenny Loggins, Trace Duncan and Louis Mangione in the murder. Duncan, Loggins and Mangione had their death sentences reversed and were each given life in prison without the possibility of parole. The move came in 2005 after the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of people who were younger than 18 when they committed a crime.

Victim's daughter condemns 'state-sanctioned homicide'

While losing her mother ripped Haley's life apart, she doesn't lay all the blame on Grayson, saying that he faced severe physical and sexual abuse as a child and was still a boy when he was thrown out on the street.

“I have to wonder how all of this slips through the cracks of the justice system," she said. "Because society failed this man as a child and my family suffered because of it."

She said she's opposed to the death penalty because "it's not right" and that "murdering inmates under the guise of justice needs to stop."

“State-sanctioned homicide needs never be listed as cause of death,” she said. “I don’t know who we think we are. To be in such a modern time, we regress when we implement this punishment. I hope and pray my mother’s death will invoke these changes and give her senseless death some purpose."

More about Carey Dale Grayson's execution method

Grayson was killed by nitrogen hypoxia, which was used for the first time in the U.S. when Alabama executed Kenneth Eugene Smith in January. Smith’s execution by the method drew national and international scorn and media attention, including a protest from the Vatican.

Smith appeared to writhe and convulse on the gurney for at least four minutes during the execution. State and prison systems' officials had said before the execution that Smith should lose consciousness “within seconds,” and be dead within minutes once the gas started flowing into the full-face mask Smith wore.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm called Smith’s execution “textbook,” in a news conference about half an hour after the Smith died.

Alan Eugene Miller's September execution was the second by nitrogen gas in Alabama.

With the nitrogen hypoxia method, the condemned breathes pure nitrogen through a mask that displaces oxygen in their system. Proponents claim it is an almost instant and painless method. Opponents claim it amounts to torture.

Who was Carey Dale Grayson?

Grayson had bipolar disorder and his mother died when he was 3 after battling mental illness, according to court records.

A forensic psychologist testified that Grayson was "in a manic state" during the murder but that he "did know the difference between right and wrong and was able to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his acts, court records say.

In a police interview, Grayson described the younger teens as committing the most heinous acts during the crime. When asked about why they killed DeBlieux, court records say, he told police that he didn't know and that "it was not his problem.” 

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