An Alabama prisoner convicted of the 1994 murder of a female hitchhiker is set to become the third person executed by nitrogen gas. Carey Dale Grayson, 50, was one of four teenagers convicted of killing Vickie Deblieux, 37, who was hitchhiking through Alabama on her way to her mother’s home in Louisiana. Grayson is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in south Alabama.
Alabama recently introduced the use of nitrogen gas as a method of execution, marking the first new execution method in the United States since lethal injection was introduced in 1982. The process involves placing a respirator gas mask over the person’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, leading to death by lack of oxygen.
