Demetrius Terrence Frazier (right) was executed despite the pleas of his mum (left) (Image: AP)
A Death Row sicko who was convicted of raping and murdering a woman in her home has become the fourth person to be executed using the contentious nitrogen gas method.
Despite pleas from his mother, Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52, found guilty of the 1991 murder of 41-year-old Pauline Brown, was executed by the State of Alabama early on Friday morning.
This execution marks the first carried out by the state this year and the third across the US. Alabama has been at the forefront of using nitrogen gas for executions, having ordered the deaths of three other inmates via this method last year.
The procedure involves placing a respirator gas mask over the individual’s face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen. In the run-up to his execution, Frazier had no outstanding court appeals.
Carol Frazier, mother of Demetrius Frazier, pleads publicly on Tuesday, Janaury 28 to the Governor (Image: AP)
Instead, requests were reportedly made on his behalf to a governor in another state to intervene and halt the execution.
It is reported that in Frazier’s final hours, his mother and death penalty opponents appealed to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to return Frazier to Michigan.
He had previously been serving a life sentence there for the murder of a 14-year-old girl before being transferred to Alabama’s death row.
The goal was to save Frazier’s life, as Michigan does not have a death penalty, according to the Mirror US.
Demetrius Terrence Frazier has been put to death (Image: AP)
“I know my son has changed. Demetrius has repented,” pleaded Carol Frazier, mother of the convict, in a heartfelt letter. “Please don’t let Alabama kill my son.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has yet to make any public statement regarding the matter.
However, the Michigan attorney general’s office made it clear in a January court filing that they did not wish for Frazier’s return.
State attorneys wrote: “While Michigan takes no position on the imposition of the death penalty in this case, Michigan does not seek to return Frazier to a Michigan correctional facility.”
Michigan resident Beverly Leaf stands in solidarity with Carol Frazier (Image: AP)
State attorneys wrote: “While Michigan takes no position on the imposition of the death penalty in this case, Michigan does not seek to return Frazier to a Michigan correctional facility.”
It was previously reported that Frazier had been convicted of separate murders in 1991 in Michigan and another killing a year later in Alabama.
Prosecutors alleged that on November 27, 1991, Frazier, then just 19, broke into Brown’s apartment through a window while she was asleep.
They further claimed that Frazier held the woman at gunpoint, demanding she hand over $80 million from her purse.
Frazier when he was a younger convict (Image: AP)
They also accused him of shooting her in the head after sexually assaulting her, before returning to the flat later for a snack and to search for money.
Michigan police reported that Frazier confessed to the murder. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 14-year-old Crystal Kendrick.
In 1996, an Alabama jury found him guilty of murdering Brown and recommended by a vote of 10-2 that he be given a death sentence. Frazier remained in Michigan custody until 2011 when the then-governors of both states agreed to transfer him to Alabama’s death row.
Tearful Carol Frazier said he son had changed (Image: AP)
In a notable judicial ruling last week, a federal judge rejected an appeal to put a stop to Frazier’s execution.
Legal representatives for Frazier had contended that the newly implemented protocol for execution fails to act as rapidly as state officials had guaranteed.
According to the judge’s findings in the report, the evidence from the preceding three executions was insufficient to support the claim that any of the inmates “experienced severe psychological pain or distress over and above what is inherent in any execution.”
