Alabama executes man with nitrogen gas for 1991 murder and rape
A prisoner in Alabama murdered a woman after breaking into her apartment in the fourth national execution Thursday night Nitrogen.
Demetrius Frazier, 52, was in South Alla at 6:36 p.m. for rape in 1991 and murders killed by Pauline Brown, 41. Bama prison was pronounced dead. This is the first execution in Alabama this year, the third in 2025 in the U.S. after a fatal injection in Texas on Wednesday and last Friday in South Carolina. Execution.
“First of all, I want to apologize to Pauline Brown’s family and friends. What happened to Pauline Brown will never happen,” Fraser said, also criticizing Michigan Governor Gretchen Witt Gretchen Witmer, because he said she failed to withdraw her previous sentence of life in her state under the appeal of her.
“I love everyone on death row. Detroit is strong,” he said.
Recently, Frazier’s mother and death row rival called on Whitmer to bring Frazier back to Michigan to complete his verdict for murdering a teenage girl, and then He was sent to Alabama authorities many years ago. There is no death penalty in Michigan.
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office wrote in January’s court filings that the state does not want Frazier to return. Police said Frazier admitted to killing Brown in 1992 while being detained in Michigan.
Michigan Governor Whitmer told Detroit News ahead of execution that her ex Rick Snyder “unfortunately” agreed to send Frazier to Alabama officials In hand.
“It’s a very difficult situation,” she told the media before the execution. “I understand the pleading and attention. Michigan is not a state of death.”
Prosecutors said Frazier, then 19, broke into Brown’s apartment in Birmingham while she was asleep, on November 27, 1991. Prosecutors said he asked for money and raped Brown at the gun after giving him $80 in her purse. He then said he shot her, adding that he later came back for snacks and looked for money.
Frazier was sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1992 murder of Crystal Kendrick, at the time of 14. Then in 1996, an Alabama jury found him murdered Brown and was recommended by a 10-2 vote, convicted of his death sentence. Frazier was in Michigan custody until 2011, when the then government of two states agreed to move him to death row in Alabama.
Alabama becomes the first Execution with nitrogen The method was used last year when three prisoners were put to death. It involves placing a respirator air shield on a person’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen, resulting in death due to lack of oxygen.
After the correction staff performed the final examination of the respirator mask used to manage nitrogen, the execution began at around 6:10 pm. Frazier moved his hand in a circular motion around the first minute and then began to shaking. At 6:13 pm, he lifted his legs a few inches Gurney
He seemed to be breathless. His breathing then slowed down a series of sporadic breaths. He had no obvious movement at 6:21 pm
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said the gas flowed about 18 minutes. He said the instrument showed that Frazier no longer had his heartbeat after the gas started to flow for 13 minutes.
Hamm said he believed Frazier was quickly unconscious and pointed out that the hand’s rotation had stopped. The commissioner said he believes other exercises, such as leg lifting and regular breathing, are involuntary exercises.
A federal judge last week rejected a request to stop Fraser’s execution. His lawyers believe that this new approach does not work as quickly as the state promises. Media witnesses, including the Associated Press, described how the person who swayed on Gurney at the beginning of the execution was killed.
However, the judge ruled Description of execution It does not support the discovery that anyone “more than anything that is performed inherently” “experienced severe psychological pain or distress”.
Some Brown’s family members witnessed the execution but chose not to issue a statement to the media
“In Alabama, we enforce the law. You won’t come to our state and get stuck with our citizens. Rapemen and murderers are not welcome in our streets, and tonight, Pauline Brown and her justice It’s for Pauline Brown and her loved ones,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement.
