Attorneys for the Alabama man sentenced to die by nitrogen hypoxia for murdering a female hitchhiker are trying to block the state from carrying out the sentence scheduled for November.
Last week, Gov. Kay Ivey sent an official order of execution to Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) commissioner John Hamm on Monday, authorizing the November execution of Carey Dale Grayson, 49, who kidnapped and murdered a female hitchhiker in 1994, along with several accomplices.
This would be the third nitrogen hypoxia execution in the United States. To date, Alabama is the only state in the nation to perform an execution using the method. The first was Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was executed in January. The second such execution is scheduled for Alan Eugene Miller between midnight on September 26 and midnight on September 27
Grayson's attorneys asked a federal judge last week to block the state from using the same nitrogen protocol that Alabama used to execute Smith, citing witness descriptions of Smith's execution and the findings of his autopsy.
Reporter witnesses said the execution took about 22 minutes, and he shook on the gurney before he died.
Additionally, Grayson's attorneys argue that Smith's autopsy proved that the process was cruel and unusual as defined by the U.S. Constitution.
"Rather than investigating what went wrong — as other states have done following issues with executions. Defendants have chosen to ignore clear and obvious signs the current protocol contains major problems that will result in more unconstitutionally torturous executions if it continues to be employed," Grayson's attorneys wrote.
After Smith's execution, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall slammed anti-death penalty activists, asserting they would not prevail in their efforts to block the process in the future.
"They don't care that Alabama's new method is humane and effective because they know it is also easy to carry out," Marshall said. "Despite the international effort by activists to undermine and disparage our state's justice system and to deny justice to the victims of heinous murders, our proven method offers a blueprint for other states and a warning to those who would contemplate shedding innocent blood. This is an important night for Liz Sennett's family, for justice, and for the rule of law in our great nation."
Court records state 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.
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 Deblieux over the edge of Bald Rock Mountain. This came after court records say 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.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
