Carey Dale Grayson was executed Thursday evening for his role in the 1994 murder of Vickie Deblieux, 37, who was hitchhiking to her mother’s home in Louisiana when she was killed. (Alabama Department of Corrections)
The state of Alabama Thursday executed Carey Dale Grayson, 49, for his role in the murder of Vickie Deblieux in 1994.
Grayson, the third person to be executed by nitrogen gas by the state, was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m. Media witnesses reported labored and heavy breathing for nearly 10 minutes and some slight movements.
According to media witnesses, Grayson, given a chance to deliver his last words, directed an obscenity at Terry Raybon, warden of Holman Correctional Facility, before staff pulled away the microphone.
A jury convicted Grayson of Deblieux’s murder in 1996 and sentenced him to death. According to court documents, Deblieux, 37, was hitchhiking to her mother’s home when she encountered Grayson, then 19, and three other teenagers. The group took Deblieux to a wooded area and beat her to death.
“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,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a news release she sent shortly after 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. 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.”
A 16-year-old who participated in Deblieux’s murder was given a life sentence. Two other members of the group, who were 17 at the time, were originally sentenced to death. Their sentences were changed to life in prison in 2006 after the U.S. Supreme Court barred the use of capital punishment against people convicted for crimes committed while they were under the age of 18.
Alabama introduced nitrogen gas as a method of execution in 2018. Supporters at the time claimed it would be a more humane method of putting people to death. Alabama executed Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen gas in January and Alan Eugene Miller in September. Media witnesses reported both men writhing and gasping through their executions.
In a statement, Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, an anti-death penalty group, called the use of nitrogen gas “deeply troubling.”
“Other than state officials, anyone who witnessed the suffocations of Kenny Smith and Alan Miller will tell you just how torturous it is,” the statement said. “Tonight the State of Alabama will traumatize another batch of eyewitnesses to this unnecessary horror.”
In a lawsuit filed in June, Grayson alleged that Alabama’s nitrogen gas protocol would subject him to high levels of pain because of a lack of proper mask fitting, the absence of a medical exam prior to the execution and the lack of a sedative during the process.
In lieu of being executed by the state’s previous process, Grayson requested he be given a sedative prior to being executed or be given a lethal dose of the drug fentanyl.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker rejected his arguments as speculative, saying that Grayson did not offer sufficient evidence to demonstrate he would likely succeed in a full court hearing on the merits of his claim.
On Monday, a three-panel judge at the 11th Circuit denied his appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday turned down Grayson’s request for a stay of execution.
Alabama has executed six people this year, the most in a single year since 2011. It is the only state that has carried out executions by nitrogen gas.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.