Alabama carries out nation's 3rd nitrogen gas execution on a man for a hitchhiker's killing

An Alabama inmate convicted in the 1994 killing of a female hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden and made obscene gestures with his hands shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's third execution using nitrogen gas.

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An Alabama inmate convicted in the 1994 killing of a female hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden and made obscene gestures with his hands shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's third execution using nitrogen gas.

Carey Dale Grayson, 50, was executed at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southern Alabama. He was one of four teens at the time convicted of killing Vickie Deblieux, 37, as she was hitchhiking through Alabama on the way to her mother's home in Louisiana. The woman was attacked, beaten and thrown off a cliff.

Strapped to a gurney with a blue-rimmed gas mask strapped to his face, Grayson raised both of his middle fingers and cursed at the prison warden Thursday evening. When the prison warden asked for his final statement, Grayson responded with an obscenity. The warden turned off the microphone. Grayson appeared to address the witness room with state officials.

It was unclear when the gas began flowing. Grayson shook and pulled against the gurney restraints. His sheet-wrapped legs at one point lifted off the gurney in the air. He then clenched his fist and appeared to struggle to try to gesture again, then took a series of gasping breaths for several minutes before becoming still.

Grayson was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m.

Alabama began using nitrogen gas earlier this year to carry out some executions. The method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the person's face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen.