Federal judge refuses to block upcoming Alabama nitrogen gas execution

Federal judge denies injunction for fourth U.S. nitrogen gas execution, citing lack of proof of cruelty.

A federal judge on Friday (January 31, 2025) refused to stop what would be the fourth nitrogen gas execution in the U.S., saying the inmate had not proven his claims that the new method is unconstitutionally cruel and causes psychological terror.

Chief District Judge Emily C. Marks rejected Demetrius Frazier’s request for a preliminary injunction to either stop his execution on Thursday (January 30, 2025) in Alabama or require that the state give him a sedative before administering the gas.

Ms. Marks ruled Frazier had not met the “exceedingly high” legal bar required to win an injunction.

“Frazier fails to meet his burden to establish that the Protocol does create a substantial risk of serious psychological pain such that the Protocol violates the Eighth Amendment,” Ms. Marks wrote.

Frazier is scheduled to be executed for the 1991 rape of murder of Pauline Brown. Prosecutors said Frazier broke into Brown’s Birmingham apartment, raped her and shot her in the back of the head.

Alabama became the first state to carry out executions with nitrogen gas when three inmates were put to death using the new method in 2024. The method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen.

Frazier’s lawyers pointed to descriptions of the state’s first three nitrogen executions to argue the method causes conscious suffocation instead of the swift death that the state promised.