Lawyers for an Alabama inmate, set to be executed with nitrogen gas this fall, have argued in a recent court filing that the state has overlooked issues with the execution method as it plans to carry out more nitrogen executions.
Attorneys representing Carey Dale Grayson have requested a federal judge to prevent the state from using the same nitrogen protocol that was used in January to execute Kenneth Smith. The court document referred to witness accounts of the execution and the results of an autopsy performed on Smith.
After being the first state to conduct a nitrogen execution, Alabama has scheduled two more executions using the new method. Another execution via nitrogen gas is planned for Sept. 26 for Alan Eugene Miller, while Grayson's execution is slated for Nov.21.
"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 stated in the Tuesday night court filing.
The Alabama attorney general's office refrained from commenting on the court filing on Wednesday but has insisted that the method is constitutional. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall previously labeled the execution as "textbook."
Autopsy
The state will later respond to the request for a preliminary injunction. According to an autopsy conducted by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, Smith had blood and fluid in his lungs after his death.
The state autopsy revealed that when cut open his lungs displayed "marked congestion and edema with dark maroon blood." It also noted a "small amount of frothy fluid" in the tracheobronchial tree.
An expert hired by Grayson's legal team found the autopsy results "highly concerning." Dr. Brian McAlary, an anesthesiologist, stated that these findings were indicative of negative pressure pulmonary edema, which can occur when one attempts to draw a breath against an upper airway obstruction, causing fluid to be pulled from blood vessels.
He added that this condition could also result from strangulation or smothering with a plastic bag. Furthermore, he pointed out that the absence of a sedative prior to nitrogen gas exposure increases the likelihood of panic.
McAlary wrote, "Mr. Smith's autopsy demonstrates what happens to the body when this panic response occurs. An individual experiencing panic and the sensation of the inability to breathe while also being denied oxygen will experience a constricted airway similar to an upper airway obstruction".
Dr. Thomas Andrew, who served as the chief medical examiner of New Hampshire for two decades before retiring, told The Associated Press that lung congestion is consistent with asphyxia as the cause of death. He explained that as the heart rapidly fails, "blood backs up and the lungs become quite congested."
Andrew weighed in on the contentious subject of execution methods, expressing that it might be a "bridge too far" to assume airway obstruction occurs. However, he acknowledged that lacking sedation could indeed spark panic.
"I think that's a critical critique of the protocols used in this form of execution... You certainly will have a sense of the absence of oxygen, air hunger, and all of the panic and discomfort that is part and parcel of that way of dying," he insightfully noted.
The state of Alabama gave the green light to nitrogen gas as an execution method in 2018, which Grayson picked for his own execution, despite the state lacking a concrete process to administer it at the time. Grayson's conviction stems from the horrific 1994 murder of 37-year-old Vickie Deblieux in Jefferson County.
She was attacked by Grayson and three other teenagers after they offered her a ride while she was hitchhiking back home. Following a brutal assault and tossing her off a cliff, they gruesomely mutilated her body, prosecutors said.
The grim fate of facing the death penalty falls solely on Grayson since he was 19 at the time of the vile act, distinguishing his punishment from the other implicated teenagers.
Source: themirror.com, R. Smith, August 22, 2024
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
