A MURDERER’S final words before he was executed left witnesses shocked, as he was gassed to death in a 19-minute gruelling ordeal.
Carey Dale Grayson, 50, was executed with nitrogen gas following the murder of a hitchhiker in Alabama 30 years ago.
In 1994, he and three other teenaged friends killed and later mutilated Vickie DeBlieux, 37, as she hitchhiked through the state on the way to her mother’s home in Louisiana.
Her beaten body was found at the bottom of a bluff near Odenville, Alabama on February 26.
Carey was hauled into an execution chamber on November 21 and fitted with a gas mask before the nitrogen began filling his lungs.
But as the killer gas began to flow, the murderer rocked his head and shook before telling the prison warden: “You need to f*** off”.
He could also be seen pointing his middle finger towards what appeared to be the middle of the room towards witnesses.
Something else was said in a loud manner, but it is not clear what it was.
The murderer could be seen convulsing and gasping for air as the nitrogen gas was pumped into his mask.
He could also be seen thrashing and shaking his head from left to right.
He reportedly stopped breathing at 6.21pm, and was pronounced dead at 6.33pm.
Carey was convicted for the murder after offering her a ride with his three other buddies.
Vickie was was hitchhiking from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to her mothers home in West Monroe, when the four teens offered her a ride.
Prosecutors said at the time that the Carey and his pals took her into the woods where they attacked and beat her to death.
They later revisited the scene to mutilate the body.
They would return to cut her body 180 times, cut off her fingers and remove a portion of her lung.
A medical examiner testified that her face was so fractured that she was identified by an earlier X-ray of her spine.
Carey was just 19 at the time of the vicious attack, and his co-defendants were all under 18.
He was sentenced to death, whilst the other three all had their death sentences amended to life in 2005.
It was argued that them being minors made the prospect of execution unconstitutional.
Carey’s death was the third execution to be carried out using nitrogen gas.
Execution by nitrogen gas is a highly controversial method that is very rarely used.
It involves pumping lethal nitrogen gas into a mask worn by by person being executed.
The gas then slowly starves the wearer of all oxygen in what some see as an inhumane process.
The amount of time it takes to die by nitrogen gas varies from person to person, but it is said to take a maximum of around 22 minutes.
There is a debate as to whether people should be offered a sedative before executed in this way.
Some have labelled the method as slow suffocation, whilst some have argued that this isn’t the case.
Those who have been killed by nitrogen gas have been seen gasping desperately for air and convulsing.
There have only been three executions carried out by nitrogen gas.
DeBlieux’s daughter Jodi Haley was 12 when her mother was killed.
She said: “She was unique. She was spontaneous. She was wild. She was funny.
She was gorgeous to boot.”
The crime has been fiercely lambasted by Gov. Kay Ivey.
She said: “Some 30 years ago, Vicki DeBlieux’s journey to her mother’s house and ultimately her life were horrifically cut short because of Carey Grayson and three other men.
“She sensed something was wrong, attempted to escape, but instead was brutally tortured and murdered.
“Even after her death, 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.”
Despite the brutality of Carey’s crime, his method of execution remains highly controversial.
The state executed Alan Eugene Miller, 59, and Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, earlier this year using nitrogen gas.
They were both seen shaking and trembling on the gurney for about two minutes as the nitrogen made its way into their systems.
Attorney John Palombi noted that both men were also conscious as their bodies reacted to the procedure.
He said: “I would submit to the court that being conscious and being suffocated for a period of time constitutes terror that is superadded to this protocol that does not have to be there, as acknowledged by the fact that the state is willing to, if he requests it, give Mr. Grayson a sedative.”
Robert Overing, Alabama‘s deputy solicitor general, disagreed with the attorney.
He argued; “This is really apples and oranges, trying to use the term “suffocation” to evoke a fear and pain that doesn’t exist with this method.”
Carey was denied his request for a sedative before being put to death.
Protestors argued that the execution should have been halted, noting Carey’s traumatic childhood, prompting drug and alcohol abuse from a young age.
He also suffered from bipolar disorder.
