Alabama Executes Convicted Murderer Using Controversial Nitrogen Gas Method

Demetrius Frazier, convicted of multiple murders, became the fourth person executed with nitrogen gas in Alabama, a practice criticized for its potential cruelty.

Demetrius Frazier, 52, was executed in Alabama for the 1991 murder and assault of Pauline Brown, a crime he confessed to in 1992.
Frazier was also serving a life sentence in Michigan for the murder of a 14-year-old girl before being transferred to Alabama in 2011 to face the death penalty.
The execution marks the fourth use of nitrogen gas, a method introduced in Alabama last year and criticized by experts as causing conscious suffocation.
Frazier’s appeals to delay the execution and challenge the nitrogen gas method were denied by courts.
Human rights advocates and Fraziers's family had unsuccessfully urged Michigan officials to intervene, as the state does not allow the death penalty.