MJP –
In a lawsuit filed against Alabama, attorneys for death row convict Carey Dale Grayson are claiming that the state has failed to correct “flaws” in its execution procedure. The defense team for Grayson is pleading with a federal court to prevent the execution by nitrogen gas that the state plans to carry out this winter.
Several problems have surfaced since what they call the “torturous” execution of Kenneth Smith earlier this year, including the fact that Smith had blood in his lungs. Using nitrogen gas, a method it pioneered, Alabama intends to execute two further inmates despite fears.
“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,” writes Grayson’s legal team in court documents, criticizing Alabama’s dismissal of the flawed method.
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Though Attorney General Steve Marshall had previously defended the method’s legality and referred to other executions as “textbook,” the office has remained silent following Tuesday’s filing.
A response from Alabama about the request for a preliminary injunction is anticipated very soon. Blood and fluid were found within Smith’s lungs during the postmortem autopsy that was performed by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, according to a story from the Mirror US.
The state’s postmortem report documented “marked congestion and edema with dark maroon blood” found in the deceased’s lungs upon opening. Further investigation revealed a “small amount of frothy fluid” within the tracheobronchial tree.
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A defense specialist who was retained by Grayson has voiced grave reservations regarding the findings of the autopsy. According to anesthesiologist Dr. Brian McAlary, these symptoms suggest to negative pressure pulmonary edema, which can develop when a person tries to breathe in via a narrowed airway and draws fluid from their blood vessels into their lungs.
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He went on to say that suffocation or strangling through a plastic bag could potentially cause this disease. In addition, he stressed that the risk of panic could be increased if a sedative was not administered before exposure to nitrogen gas.
Mr. Smith’s autopsy shows the effects of this fear response on the body, according to Dr. McAlary’s report. Someone who is scared and feels like they can’t breathe while being cut off from oxygen will have a narrowed airway, such as a blockage in the upper airway.
According to Dr. Thomas Andrew, a former chief medical examiner of New Hampshire, who spoke to AP, “blood backs up and the lungs become quite congested” when a person has heart failure.
The procedures utilized in this type of execution are severely criticized, he said. Sure, you’ll feel like you’re running out of breath, hungry for more, and experiencing all the fear and misery that comes with that kind of death.
In 2018, Alabama decided to use nitrogen gas as an execution method. Inmate Grayson chose this method for his own death penalty, even though there was no concrete plan to execute him at the time.
In 1994, Grayson was convicted of the murder of 37-year-old Vickie Deblieux in Jefferson County and put on death row. The prosecution claims that after offering her a ride home, Grayson and three other teens brutally assaulted her, hurled her off a cliff, and sexually desecrated her body.
Since Grayson was the eldest of the attackers, he was the only one given the death penalty.
