Moments before Carey Dale Grayson’s execution Thursday for the 1994 murder and mutilation of a hitchhiker in Jefferson CountyTHE Warden of the William C. Holman Correctional Facility held a microphone for Grayson to deliver his final words.

But Terry Raybon immediately removed the microphone after Grayson began by saying, “For you, you have to f*** yourself.” »

The rest of his statement was not heard in the three witness rooms. After that, nitrogen gas flowed into a gas mask attached to Grayson’s face. He was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m.

“Did you hear his statement?” said Alabama Department of Justice Commissioner John Hamm at a press conference after the execution. “That was enough. He swore at most of our employees tonight, so we weren’t going to give him the chance to spew those profanities.

Grayson, at one point, also pointed the middle finger to at least his left hand, which was visible to media witnesses.

After Grayson’s death, his attorney and spiritual advisor Kacey Keeton said Grayson had more to say when the microphone was taken away from him. Keeton, who sat in the execution chamber with Grayson, said he was insulting Raybon specifically with his swearing and not at the broader audience.

After the microphone was removed and people in the witness room could not hear him clearly, Keeton said Grayson talked about how he had committed a horrible crime and how sorry he was for it , adding that he has been sorry for more than 30 years. According to Keeton, Grayson said he had repented, been saved, knew God and hoped to be forgiven.

He spoke about prison and the failure of the system, mentioning that people there commit murder and are “serial killers.”

Grayson said, according to Keeton, that he hopes everyone knows the state is committing murder in the name of Alabama and the people who live there. He said he prayed for everyone, that God would be with them.

The gas apparently started flowing at 6:12 p.m., followed by Grayson panting and standing up, shaking his head from side to side. Around 6:14 p.m., both of his legs on the stretcher came up. His movements slowed, but he had what seemed like periodic gasps over the next six minutes when he stopped moving.

At a press conference following the execution, Hamm said the first movements Grayson made were “all show” and that later movements were consistent with nitrogen executions.

Grayson was the third inmate in the United States to die from nitrogen, all in Alabama. He was put to death for his role in the brutal murder of 37-year-old Vicki Lynn Deblieux.

Deblieux was kidnapped hitchhiking from Chattanooga to see his mother in Louisiana. She accepted a ride from Grayson, Kenny Loggins, Trace Duncan and Louis Mangione at the Trussville exit of Interstate 59 on February 22, 1994.

Deblieux’s naked, dismembered body was found four days later at the base of a cliff on Bald Rock Mountain in St. Clair County.

Court records show that after picking up the woman, the teens took her to an abandoned area near Medical Center East in Birmingham, where they all drank. At one point, the teens attacked and killed Deblieux, drove his body to St. Clair County, then threw his body and luggage off the cliff.

Prosecutors named each of the men as “ringleaders” in their separate trials.

Deblieux’s daughter, Jodi Haley, was present at the Holman prison Thursday evening. She described her mother at a press conference after the execution. “She was unique. She was spontaneous, she was wild. She was funny and beautiful too,” Haley said.

Haley also focused on Grayson and his stance against the death penalty.

Grayson was abused “in every way possible,” including putting out cigarettes on his skin, being subjected to physical and sexual abuse and being thrown out onto the streets as a teenager, Haley said.

“I wonder how this all gets through the cracks of the justice system. Because society failed this man when he was a child and my family suffered because of it,” she said.

Haley wondered what kind of positive impact Grayson could have had on lives. The “eye for an eye” justification for the death penalty “is not right,” Haley said.

“The killing of inmates under the guise of justice must stop,” Haley said. “State-sanctioned homicides should never be listed as a cause of death,” she said.

“I don’t know who we think we are. In such a modern age, we regress when we apply this punishment. I hope and pray that my mother’s death will bring about these changes and give purpose to her senseless death,” Haley said.

Earlier in the evening, a spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections released details about Grayson’s last meals and visitors. He refused his breakfast and lunch tray, but had coffee and Mountain Dew. For his last meal, Grayson ate soft tacos, beef burritos, a tostada, chips and guacamole, and a Mountain Dew Blast at a nearby restaurant.