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https://michiganadvance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Demetrius-Terrence-Frazier-horizontal-1024x680.jpg
Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52, is scheduled to be executed in February after being convicted of the November 1991 rape and murder of Pauline Brown, 40, in Birmingham. Michigan supports Alabama’s efforts to have Frazier’s lawsuit dismissed. (Alabama
Department of Corrections)

The state of Alabama executed Demetrius Terrence Frazier by nitrogen gas Thursday evening for the rape and murder of Pauline Brown in Birmingham in 1991.

Frazier, 52, the fourth person the state has executed by nitrogen gas, was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m., according to Gov. Kay Ivey’s office.

“First of all, I want to apologize to the friends and family of Pauline Brown, what happened to her should never have happened,” Frazier said when he made his final statement. “I want to apologize to the Black community.”

Frazier also criticized Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for not intervening in his case. Frazier was transferred to Alabama in 2011 while serving a life sentence in Michigan for the 1992 murder of Crystal Kendrick, 14. His legal team had urged Whitmer to
take custody of his case and have him transferred back to the state for the crimes he committed in Michigan. Whitmer did not intervene.

A member of the Corrections staff adjusted Frazier’s mask at about 6:10 p.m. and the nitrogen gas began to flow a few minutes afterward. Media witnesses reported that Frazier struggled to breathe for several minutes during the execution.

At one point in the execution, Frazier lifted his legs and his body twitched, according to media witnesses. That is similar to what other witnesses observed from the three other executions that the state carried out using nitrogen gas.

Witnesses said that they observed Frazier take his final breath at about 6:20 p.m.

“It went according to plan like our protocol says,” ADOC Commissioner John Hamm said at a news conference following the execution.

The state executed Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen gas in January 2024. Alan Eugene Miller was put to death under the method in September. Carey Dale Grayson followed in November.

“In Alabama, we enforce the law,” Ivey said in a statement Thursday evening. “You don’t come to our state and mess with our citizens and get away with it.”

The governor said that justice was carried out on behalf of Brown and her loved ones.

“I pray for her family that all these years later, they can continue healing and have assurance that Demetrius Frazier cannot harm anyone else,” Ivey said.

Frazier was convicted of Kendrick’s death in 1993 and sentenced to life in prison. An Alabama jury convicted Frazier of capital murder in 1996 and recommended he be put to death by a vote of 10-2. While arguing that Frazier should be returned to
Michigan, Frazier’s legal team also argued the nitrogen gas protocol violated Frazier’s Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment, citing the distress that media witnesses reported among the men who had previously been
subjected to it.

The federal courts rejected both arguments. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said they would not ask for Frazier to be returned to their state.

https://michiganadvance.com/2025/02/07/alabama-executes-demetrius-terrence-frazier-for-1991-rape-and-murder-of-pauline-brown/

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