Alabama carried out its third execution this year using a controversial 'grim' new method described as 'torture'.
Yesterday (November 21), Carey Dale Grayson was put to death at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
The 50-year-old prisoner was one of four teenagers convicted of the murder of 37-year-old Vickie DeBlieux.
Nitrogen hypoxia explained
Death by nitrogen hypoxia sees a mask placed over an inmate's mouth and nose, seeing them forced to breathe in pure nitrogen, depriving their body of oxygen and subsequently killing them.
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By those who support the method, it's been advertised as a quick and painless execution.
The Independent reports Alabama inmates are given a choice of execution method between electrocution, lethal injection and nitrogen hypoxia and Grayson chose nitrogen.
However, Grayson's attorneys asked the US Supreme Court to stay the execution in a bid to change what method was used.
The first person to be executed using nitrogen was Kenneth Smith in February earlier this year. A United Nations report states it took 'more than 20 minutes' for Smith to die and he 'writhed and convulsed on the gurney'.
Lawyers for Alabama state claimed 'nitrogen hypoxia protocol has been successfully used twice, and both times it resulted in a death within a matter of minutes'.
The opposition to nitrogen hypoxia
UN experts have called for 'an urgent ban' on the execution method, stating it's 'clearly prohibited under international law' citing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The press release states: "We emphasise that the prohibition on torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is absolute, never acceptable and not dependant on alternatives."
In Grayson's case in particular and how it's reported he was abused and neglected in childhood and may've had bipolar disorder, the experts noted 'concern over over the lack of effective legal assistance and accommodations to guarantee fair trial and due process in criminal cases against persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities'.
The concern was even echoed by Vickie DeBlieux's daughter who spoke out in condemnation of the execution.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement: "Mr. Grayson’s crimes against Ms. DeBlieux were heinous, unimaginable, without an ounce of regard for human life and just unexplainably mean
" 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."
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q Hamm added that the nitrogen gas flowed for 15 minutes during Grayson's execution, and his heart stopped beating after 10.
While paying tribute to her 'unique, spontaneous, wild and funny' mother, Vickie's daughter reflected on the alleged abuse Grayson experienced as a child.
She said: "I have to wonder how all of this slips through the cracks of our justice system, because society failed this man as a child, and my family suffered because of it."