The State of Alabama successfully carried out the nitrogen gas execution of a combative Carey Dale Grayson on Thursday evening for the 1994 kidnapping, murder and mutilation of a female hitchhiker.
Grayson exhausted his appeals leading up to Thursday morning when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case.
Grayson was one of four men convicted of torturing and murdering Vicki Lynn DeBlieux before throwing her off a cliff. Grayson was 19 at the time of the murder. All of Grayson's accomplices were also sentenced to death. However, two had their death sentences commuted after a Supreme Court ruling banning capital punishment for those under 18.
Gov. Kay Ivey announced she would not grant Grayson clemency, and Attorney General Marshall cleared the execution to commence at 6:11 p.m. Grayson's official time of death was 6:33 p.m. He was executed by nitrogen hypoxia at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
Grayson was the third person to be executed using the new method this year. The first was Kenneth Eugene Smith in January. The second was carried out in September in the case of Alan Eugene Miller. To date, Alabama is the only state to use the method as a form of capital punishment.
Media witnesses to the execution described Grayson's last minutes as combative.
"The prison warden read the death warrant and pointed the microphone to Grayson's face to utter his last words, but then immediately backed off after Grayson said, 'For you, you need to f*** off,' Al(dot)com wrote.
Grayson also reportedly held up the middle finger of at least his left hand at one point and was loudly speaking words towards what appeared to be the middle execution viewing room, where state officials usually sit.
After the gas started flowing, Grayson reportedly had some movement and gasping for eight minutes before his movements stopped.
After the execution, Ivey released a statement, applauding the long-overdue justice delivered.
"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," Ivey said. "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 [sic] no comparison to the death and dismemberment Ms. DeBlieux experienced. I pray for her loved ones that they may continue finding closure and healing."
Marshall likewise celebrated the successful execution, lamenting the extended period between the crime and final justice.
"Over 30 years ago, Grayson and his accomplices brutally murdered a complete stranger and mutilated her body," Marshall said. "It takes a truly vicious monster to commit this kind of crime. Tonight, justice has been served."
"My prayer for Vickie's family is that they can find solace in the State of Alabama, finally serving justice for their heartbreaking loss. And my hope is that one day it will not take three decades to provide justice for other victims of violent crimes."
On the night of Feb. 21, 1994, four teenagers, including Grayson, Kenny Loggins, Trace Duncan and Louis Mangione, all of whom had been drinking alcohol and using drugs, saw DeBlieux hitchhiking on I-59 at the Trussville exit in Jefferson County. They offered to take her to Louisiana; instead, they took her to a wooded area on the pretense of picking up another vehicle.
After arriving in the wooded area, they all got out of the vehicle and began to drink. Grayson and the others threw bottles at Deblieux, who started to run from them. They tackled her to the ground and began to kick her repeatedly. When they noticed that she was still alive, one of them stood on her throat, supported by Grayson, until she gurgled blood and said, "Okay, I'll party," and then died.
The group then put her body and luggage in the back of a pickup truck and threw her over the edge of Bald Rock Mountain. This came after court records said they removed her clothes and a ring and "played with her body." After taking one of their group home, the remaining crew returned to the body, where they began to "mutilate the body by stabbing and cutting her 180 times, removing part of a lung, and removing her fingers and thumbs."
"The medical examiner found the following injuries: almost every bone in her skull was fractured, every bone in her face was fractured at least once, lacerations on the face over these fractures, a missing tooth, left eye was collapsed, right eye was hemorrhaged, tongue discolored, 180 stab wounds (postmortem), two large incisions in her chest, her left lung had been removed and all her fingers and both thumbs were cut off," court records state, adding, "The medical examiner opined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and that she was alive during the beating."
In an appeal, Grayson admits to throwing a beer bottle at DeBlieux but denies taking part in the mutilations.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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