A convicted murderer and rapist was executed by nitrogen gas on Thursday — 14 years after he was transferred to Alabama while serving a life sentence in Michigan for a separate murder.
Demetrius Frazier became the fourth inmate in the US to be put to death by the method as he served his sentence for the 1991 murder of Pauline Brown at the Holman Correctional Facility.
Frazier, 52, was convicted of capital murder for breaking into Pauline Brown’s Birmingham apartment and raping her at gunpoint before killing her when he was 19.
In his last moments on Earth, he attempted to atone for his crime of killing Brown.
“I want to apologize to the family and friends of Pauline Brown,” he said. “What happened to her should have never happened.”
Frazier also appeared to call out Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as he waited to be executed, saying, “If you cannot stand up for the constitution of Michigan, how are you going to stand up for the US Constitution when you run for president?” according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
His final words were: “Detroit strong. I love everyone on Death Row. Let’s go.”
Frazier’s mask was then closed, and the gas began flowing at 6:13 p.m. He had no visible movement by about eight minutes later, and the curtains to the execution chamber closed at 6:29 p.m. He was officially pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m.
The gas flowed for around 18 minutes, but Frazier flatlined about 13 minutes into the process, according to Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm. He added that he believed that Frazier quickly lost consciousness after the gas was released.
Some of Brown’s family were in attendance for his execution.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in her state, “We enforce the law,” in a post-execution statement.
“You don’t come to our state and mess with our citizens and get away with it,” Ivey said.
“Rapists and murderers are not welcome on our streets, and tonight, justice was carried out for Pauline Brown and her loved ones.”
Before his death, Frazier’s lawyers argued he belonged in Michigan, but Michigan’s Governor took no action to return him to his home state.
Gov. Whitmer — who faced criticism from Frazier’s mother and death penalty opponents for not bringing him back to Michigan to serve out his life sentence and avoid the death penalty — said before the execution that “Unfortunately,” her predecessor, former Gov. Rick Snyder, agreed to send him to Alabama.
“It’s a really tough situation,” she told The Detroit News. “I understand the pleas and concerns. Michigan is not a death penalty state.”
Michigan became the first state in the US to outlaw the death penalty in 1847.
Frazier confessed to murder after he was arrested in his home state of Michigan for killing 14-year-old Crystal Kendrick in 1992 — a year after killing Brown.
During his trial, prosecutors said Frazier robbed Brown, 41, after he sexually assaulted her.
He then shot Brown in the head when she only had $80 to give him.
Frazier returned to her apartment later to look for money and had a snack from her kitchen while Brown lay dead on the floor for hours.
In 1996, while serving life in prison in Michigan for Kendrick’s murder, an Alabama jury convicted him of murdering Brown. With a vote of 10-2, it was recommended he receive a death sentence.
He was transferred to Alabama under an arrangement made in 2011 to move him to death row for Brown’s murder.
Frazier chose Taco Bell burritos and Mountain Dew as his last meal.
Following his execution, he became the fourth person in the US to be put to death by nitrogen gas.
Alabama was the first state to put nitrogen gas executions into practice and used the method on three people last year.
His execution followed a lethal injection Wednesday in Texas and another last Friday in South Carolina, making him the third person in the US to be executed in 2025.
with Post wires
