Demetrius Terrance Frazier, a convicted murderer and rapist labeled by a police investigator as the “most vicious person” he has ever encountered, is slated to be executed in Alabama on Thursday. This will make him the fourth inmate executed in the U.S. by nitrogen gas since Alabama adopted this controversial method last year.

Frazier, 52, is facing execution by nitrogen gas for the murder of 41-year-old Pauline Brown in Birmingham, Alabama, on November 26, 1991. If the execution takes place, he will become the first inmate executed in Alabama this year and the third nationally.

Frazier and his legal team argue that nitrogen gas usage violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, but Alabama’s Attorney General disagrees.

“Mr. Frazier opted for nitrogen hypoxia execution in June 2018, and we will fulfill his choice,” the Attorney General’s office stated. Frazier had the option to choose either electrocution or lethal injection instead.

Here’s what you need to know regarding Frazier’s execution and the method of nitrogen gas.

How will Demetrius Frazier be executed?

Frazier’s death by nitrogen gas occurs over a year after Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first person in the U.S. – and likely anywhere – to be executed using this method in January 2024.

Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor for Death Row inmates and a witness to over six executions, described Smith’s execution as “horrific” and a reflection of society approaching a “moral apocalypse.”

“We’re seeing minutes of thrashing and spitting,” Hood recounted to YSL News. “His head was bobbing up and down, and the gurney bolted to the floor was shaking.”

Alabama utilized this method again in September for Alan Eugene Miller’s execution and again in November with Carey Dale Grayson.

In nitrogen hypoxia, the inmate inhales pure nitrogen through a mask, which replaces the oxygen in their system. Advocates claim it’s almost instantaneous and painless. Detractors, including Hood, argue that it is largely experimental and can be torturous.

Alabama Attorney General Marshall has commented that “despite misleading information from political activists, out-of-state attorneys, and biased media… nitrogen hypoxia is both humane and effective.”

What was Demetrius Frazier convicted of?

Frazier confessed to police that on the morning of November 26, 1991, he unlawfully entered Pauline Brown’s apartment, stole money from one of the bedrooms, and discovered her in another bedroom while she was alone.

Armed with a .22-caliber firearm, Frazier awoke Brown, demanded more money, and then sexually assaulted her at gunpoint. He told investigators that when Brown continued to plead for her life, he shot her in the back of the head.

After verifying that Brown was deceased, Frazier consumed two bananas from her kitchen, exited the apartment, and discarded the firearm in a ditch, according to court records.

The query into Brown’s murder remained unanswered for about four months until Frazier was arrested for an unrelated attempted rape and homicide in Detroit in March 1992. During his interrogation by Detroit police, he confessed to killing Brown.

When and where is Demetrius Frazier’s execution?

Frazier is scheduled to be executed around 6 p.m. on Thursday at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. This execution follows the execution of Steven Nelson in Texas on Wednesday for the murder of a young pastor.

Who was Pauline Brown?

Brown was well-liked among her coworkers at Bama Foods, where she worked for 18 years as a cook. Concern grew when she failed to show up for work on November 27, 1991.

Her boyfriend also became worried when she did not pick him up for work as per usual and was not answering her phone. He went to her apartment, where he discovered her brutally slain.

Mary Gaston, a close friend of Brown and coworker, shared with the Birmingham Post-Herald that she, Brown, and another friend, Maggie Williams, were often inseparable.

Gardenia Merritt, Brown’s sister-in-law, remembered her as a “drug-free lady, a dedicated worker,” who enjoyed watching television in the evenings before going to bed.

Phyllis Denise paid tribute to her mother on Facebook in 2021, celebrating her 71st birthday by expressing, “Happy heavenly birthday to my beautiful mommie Pauline Starks Brown … Luv u mommie.”

In 2019, Phyllis Denise updated her Facebook profile to feature a photo of Brown. Commenters reminisced about her fondness for the soul band Maze and her love for red velvet cake.

Who is Demetrius Frazier?

Frazier’s upbringing was marked by “extensive neglect, abuse, and dire poverty, comparable to the most tragic prison narratives,” as described by Stephen Cooper, a former federal public defender who worked with him from 2012 to 2015, in a column featured last month in the Montgomery Advertiser, part of the YSL News Network.

Frazier was raised by his mother, Carol Frazier, who lacked any paternal guidance, and he was briefly under the care of social services, according to pre-sentence investigation reports from the Michigan Department of Corrections obtained by YSL News.

Carol described Frazier as “hard-headed” and mentioned that he often sneaked out at night to commit crimes, as per the reports.

Frazier left high school without graduating but later obtained his GED from the now-closed W.J. Maxey Boys Training School in Michigan, which was a juvenile correctional facility for boys and young men aged 12 to 21.

In September 1991, two months prior to Brown’s murder, Frazier broke into a home in Detroit, armed with a knife, and repeatedly raped the homeowner, claiming he was fulfilling a bet, according to court records.

In early 1992, Frazier faced charges for the first-degree murder of 14-year-old Crystal Kendrick, whom he attempted to assault and subsequently killed when she tried to escape, according to news reports. He was serving a life sentence in Michigan for Crystal’s murder before being transferred to an Alabama prison in 2011.

Who is witnessing the execution?

The Alabama Department of Corrections has confirmed that five members of the media will witness the execution: representatives from The Associated Press, the Montgomery Advertiser, AL.com, WBRC, and WVTM.

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at YSL News. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Have a story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.

Contributing: Marty Roney, Amanda Lee Myers