MONTGOMERY, Ala (WDNews) Attorneys for Demetrius Terrence Frazier, a 52-year-old Alabama inmate scheduled for execution on February 6, are seeking to halt the use of nitrogen gas in his execution. They argue that previous executions using this method caused inmates to suffer from conscious suffocation, potentially violating the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
Frazier was convicted for the 1991 rape and murder of Pauline Brown in Birmingham. His legal team has requested that the state modify its execution protocol to include administering a sedative before the nitrogen gas is introduced, aiming to prevent the distress observed in prior executions.
Alabama began utilizing nitrogen gas for executions in 2024, becoming the first state to do so. The process involves replacing the inmate’s breathable air with pure nitrogen, leading to death by oxygen deprivation. Witnesses to earlier executions reported inmates exhibiting convulsions and labored breathing, raising concerns about the method’s humaneness.
The Alabama Attorney General’s office has not yet responded to Frazier’s request to block the execution. Previously, the state contended that movements observed during executions were involuntary and not indicative of suffering. Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary execution method, though nitrogen gas was authorized as an alternative in 2018.
Frazier is among the inmates who selected nitrogen gas as their preferred execution method during a brief window when the state allowed such choices. At that time, Alabama had not yet developed procedures for executions using the gas.
