Alabama executes Carey Grayson in 3rd death sentence using nitrogen gas

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Prison officials in Alabama have executed convicted murderer Carey Dale Grayson, marking the state's sixth death sentence and third using the nitrogen gas method so far this year.

Grayson, 50, was executed at Alabama's WIlliam C. Holman Correctional in Atmore using nitrogen gas. The gas began flowing at 6:12 p.m. CST Thursday and officials pronounced him dead 11 minutes later.

Grayson was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1994 kidnapping and murder of Vickie Debileux. He was 19 at the time of the incident.

Debileux, who was 37, had been hitchhiking when Grayson and three other teens picked her up in Jefferson County. The four eventually tortured Debileux before killing and mutilating her.

Grayson's three accomplices received life sentences because they were under 18 at the time of the murder.

The execution was Alabama's third this year using the nitrogen gas method, in which a mask is strapped to the person's face and the gas pumped in until they suffocate.

Lawyers for Grayson had argued to a U.S. federal appeals court the method was unconstitutional, a plea that was rejected.

Grayson had previously sought to have his sentence commuted to life in prison based on testimony from a psychiatrist that claimed he did not know the difference between right and wrong during the murder.

Experts testified Grayson had an extremely abusive childhood and upbringing that contributed to him committing the crime.

"I have to wonder how all of this slips through the cracks of the justice system. Because society failed this man as a child and my family suffered because of it," Debileux's daughter Jodi Haley told Al.com Thursday.

Kay also rejected a last-minute request for clemency.

"Some thirty 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," the governor said in a statement issued following the execution.

"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."