Attorneys for an Alabama inmate scheduled to be the fourth person put to death with nitrogen gas on Wednesday asked a federal judge to block the execution, arguing that the first three inmates showed signs of suffering from suffocation as the gas flowed.
Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52, is scheduled to be executed Feb. 6 for the 1991 murder and rape of Pauline Brown. His attorneys in a Wednesday 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.
