US appeals court clears way for Alabama’s third execution by nitrogen hypoxia News
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US appeals court clears way for Alabama’s third execution by nitrogen hypoxia

A US appeals court on Monday rejected an Alabama death row inmate’s bid to stop his scheduled November 22 execution by the controversial method of nitrogen hypoxia.

The panel of three judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld an earlier decision of the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. The district court had denied plaintiff Carey Dale Grayson’s motion for preliminary injunction on November 6, 2024, rejecting Grayson’s appeal to forestall his execution by nitrogen hypoxia. Grayson had argued that the execution method violated his Eighth Amendment right, as this provision of the US Constitution protects him against “cruel and unusual punishments.” The lower court was unpersuaded.

Governor Kay Ivey scheduled Grayson’s execution for between midnight and 6am on November 22. If the execution moves forward as planned, his will be the third by nitrogen hypoxia in US history. Critics argue this execution method is particularly inhumane insofar as it forces prisoners to actively participate in their own deaths by breathing in the fatal gas, while also carrying risks of seizures, mask-fitting issues, and safety concerns for execution staff – all without prior testing as a method of human execution. Amnesty International and other non-profit organizations have called on Alabama to stop the execution and commute Grayson’s sentence.

Grayson had filed a motion for habeas corpus in 2006 which was rejected in September of 2009. In 2010, his appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit was rejected his appeal and the US Supreme Court denied his final appeal. In 2015, Grayson and four other death row inmates filed a lawsuit, requesting for large doses of midazolam-only execution, alleging that lethal injection violated their Eighth Amendment right and relied on 42 U.S. Code § 1983 (civil action for deprivation of rights). This motion was denied by US District Court Judge Keith Watkins.

Grayson and several co-defendants were convicted on capital charges for the 1994 murder of 37-year-old hitchhiker Vickie Lynn Deblieux. All of the accused were teenagers at the time the crime was committed. In 2005, the US Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons ruled that imposing capital punishment on juveniles was unconstitutional. Because two of Grayson’s co-accused were under eighteen at the time of the murder, their sentences were commuted in 2006 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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