Alabama death row inmate Carey Dale Grayson on Thursday became the third inmate in the U.S. to be executed by nitrogen gas, the Associated Press reported.
Grayson, 49, 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., AP reported.
USA TODAY was waiting for confirmation of the execution from prison officials.
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.
The first such execution was that of Kenneth Eugene Smith in January and the second was Alan Eugene Miller in September.
Here’s what you need to know about Grayson’s execution.
Carey Dale Grayson, sentenced for murder on March 8, 1996
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.
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.
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 is Carey Dale Grayson?
Grayson has 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.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Carey Dale Grayson executed in nation’s 3rd nitrogen gas method: Report
