Alabama Executes Demetrius Frazier Using Controversial Nitrogen Gas Method

Frazier, convicted of the 1991 rape and murder of Pauline Brown, becomes the fourth person executed in the U.S. with nitrogen hypoxia.

Demetrius Frazier, 52, was executed in Alabama for the 1991 rape and murder of Pauline Brown, marking the first execution in Alabama this year and the third in the U.S. in 2025.
Frazier's execution used nitrogen hypoxia, a method that replaces oxygen with pure nitrogen, causing death by oxygen deprivation; this is the fourth such execution in the U.S. since 2024.
Critics argue the method is untested and amounts to torture, while proponents claim it is humane and effective; media witnesses reported visible physical reactions during the process.
Frazier had previously been convicted of the 1992 murder of a 14-year-old girl in Michigan, where he served a life sentence before being transferred to Alabama in 2011.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall defended the execution, citing justice for Brown's family, while death penalty opponents and Frazier's family had appealed for clemency.