Alabama
State schedules fourth execution amid debate over method
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has scheduled its fourth execution by nitrogen gas as critics continue to argue the new method needs additional scrutiny.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday set a Feb. 6 execution date for Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52. Her office said the execution will be carried out by nitrogen gas. It is the state’s first scheduled execution of 2025.
Frazier was convicted of killing Pauline Brown while burglarizing her Birmingham apartment in 1991. Prosecutors said Frazier, while in police custody in Detroit on an unrelated charged, confessed to raping and shooting Brown after stealing about $80 from her purse. A jury voted 10-2 that he receive a death sentence. A judge sentenced him to death.
Alabama last year became the first state to carry out an execution with nitrogen gas. Three inmates were put to death using the new method last year. The method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the person’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen.
The state has maintained the new execution method causes a quick death while critics have said it does not work as the state promised.
Attorneys for Frazier have an ongoing federal lawsuit seeking to block the state from carrying out his execution unless the state makes changes to the protocol. His lawyers argued the nitrogen gas causes “conscious suffocation” and that earlier nitrogen executions did not result in swift unconsciousness and death.
“Conscious suffocation violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment because it superadds terror and pain,” attorneys for Frazier wrote in a November court filing. Media witnesses, including The Associated Press, described how the subjects shook on the gurney for the first minutes of their execution, followed by what appeared to be several minutes of periodic labored breaths with long pauses in between.
The state, which has maintained the movements are involuntary, has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, noting Alabama has carried out three executions with the new method, and that Frazier years ago had selected it as his preferred execution method.
Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary execution method.
Alabama in 2018 became the third state to authorize the use of nitrogen gas to execute prisoners. Alabama gave inmates a brief window to select their preferred execution method. Frazier and other inmates selected nitrogen gas as their preferred execution method, but at the time the state had not developed procedures for using the gas to carry out an execution.
Washington
Judge sides with Washington State in lawsuit brought by former football coach Rolovich
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Washington State was justified in firing Nick Rolovich as head football coach because of his refusal to comply with the state’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements, a federal judge has ruled.
Rolovich sued the university following his dismissal midway through the 2021 season. He claimed that as a Catholic, he was exempted from the state’s vaccine mandate but his exemption request had been denied.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice ruled on Monday that Washington State could not accommodate Rolovich without undue hardship, including increased travel costs and hindered recruitment and fundraising efforts. The university also claimed damage to its reputation.
Rice also found no basis for Rolovich’s objection to the vaccine on religious grounds.
Rolovich’s lawsuit originally included Gov. Jay Inslee and then-Cougars athletic director Pat Chun, but those claims were dismissed in 2023.
Missouri
Prosecutor spent weeks away from office while in nursing school, audit finds
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis’ embattled former Democratic prosecutor Kim Gardner spent the equivalent of seven weeks in nursing school classes during business hours, according to a scathing report released Tuesday by the state auditor.
Republican Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s review also found widespread staff turnover, misuse of public funds and a significant drop in cases filed, referred and closed before Gardner resigned under fire in 2023.
The audit found Gardner spent “34.5 working days, or approximately 7 weeks” doing nursing school coursework at Saint Louis University during business hours.
Gardner told auditors that she was pursuing a family nurse practitioner post-master’s certificate “to improve the office and bring mental health awareness” to the office.
Other issues cited in the audit include more than $58,000 in public funds spent on flowers, a disc jockey, car detailing, an office picnic, a chili cookout and Gardner’s personal legal expenses.
Getting information from the office while Gardner was in charge was difficult, according to auditors. Employees denied or delayed audit requests for two years until subpoenaed, and “full access to documents, personnel, and the office itself was only given after the new administration took over,” according to the audit report.
Criticism of Gardner is not new.
At the time of her resignation, she was targeted for removal by Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey. And GOP lawmakers were considering a bill allowing the Republican governor to appoint a special prosecutor to handle violent crimes, effectively removing the bulk of Gardner’s responsibilities.
Gardner was part of a movement of progressive prosecutors who sought diversion to mental health treatment or drug abuse treatment for low-level crimes, pledged to hold police more accountable, and sought to free incarcerated people who were wrongfully convicted.
Republican leaders often criticized Gardner for a low homicide conviction rate, among other concerns. She frequently butted heads with police and conservatives.
In 2018, Gardner charged former Gov. Eric Greitens, then a rising star in GOP politics, with felony invasion of privacy, accusing him of taking a compromising photo of a woman during an affair. The charge was eventually dropped.
Greitens resigned in June 2018.
Scrutiny of the case led to the conviction of Gardner’s investigator, and Gardner received a written reprimand from the Missouri Supreme Court for how her office handled documents in the case.
Gardner got into more trouble after she directed her employees to issue checks to pay off a $5,004 fine related to that case, although she wasn’t entitled to the additional compensation. She agreed to repay the money with her own funds to avoid federal prosecution.
State schedules fourth execution amid debate over method
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has scheduled its fourth execution by nitrogen gas as critics continue to argue the new method needs additional scrutiny.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday set a Feb. 6 execution date for Demetrius Terrence Frazier, 52. Her office said the execution will be carried out by nitrogen gas. It is the state’s first scheduled execution of 2025.
Frazier was convicted of killing Pauline Brown while burglarizing her Birmingham apartment in 1991. Prosecutors said Frazier, while in police custody in Detroit on an unrelated charged, confessed to raping and shooting Brown after stealing about $80 from her purse. A jury voted 10-2 that he receive a death sentence. A judge sentenced him to death.
Alabama last year became the first state to carry out an execution with nitrogen gas. Three inmates were put to death using the new method last year. The method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the person’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen.
The state has maintained the new execution method causes a quick death while critics have said it does not work as the state promised.
Attorneys for Frazier have an ongoing federal lawsuit seeking to block the state from carrying out his execution unless the state makes changes to the protocol. His lawyers argued the nitrogen gas causes “conscious suffocation” and that earlier nitrogen executions did not result in swift unconsciousness and death.
“Conscious suffocation violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment because it superadds terror and pain,” attorneys for Frazier wrote in a November court filing. Media witnesses, including The Associated Press, described how the subjects shook on the gurney for the first minutes of their execution, followed by what appeared to be several minutes of periodic labored breaths with long pauses in between.
The state, which has maintained the movements are involuntary, has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, noting Alabama has carried out three executions with the new method, and that Frazier years ago had selected it as his preferred execution method.
Lethal injection remains Alabama’s primary execution method.
Alabama in 2018 became the third state to authorize the use of nitrogen gas to execute prisoners. Alabama gave inmates a brief window to select their preferred execution method. Frazier and other inmates selected nitrogen gas as their preferred execution method, but at the time the state had not developed procedures for using the gas to carry out an execution.
Washington
Judge sides with Washington State in lawsuit brought by former football coach Rolovich
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Washington State was justified in firing Nick Rolovich as head football coach because of his refusal to comply with the state’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements, a federal judge has ruled.
Rolovich sued the university following his dismissal midway through the 2021 season. He claimed that as a Catholic, he was exempted from the state’s vaccine mandate but his exemption request had been denied.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice ruled on Monday that Washington State could not accommodate Rolovich without undue hardship, including increased travel costs and hindered recruitment and fundraising efforts. The university also claimed damage to its reputation.
Rice also found no basis for Rolovich’s objection to the vaccine on religious grounds.
Rolovich’s lawsuit originally included Gov. Jay Inslee and then-Cougars athletic director Pat Chun, but those claims were dismissed in 2023.
Missouri
Prosecutor spent weeks away from office while in nursing school, audit finds
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis’ embattled former Democratic prosecutor Kim Gardner spent the equivalent of seven weeks in nursing school classes during business hours, according to a scathing report released Tuesday by the state auditor.
Republican Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s review also found widespread staff turnover, misuse of public funds and a significant drop in cases filed, referred and closed before Gardner resigned under fire in 2023.
The audit found Gardner spent “34.5 working days, or approximately 7 weeks” doing nursing school coursework at Saint Louis University during business hours.
Gardner told auditors that she was pursuing a family nurse practitioner post-master’s certificate “to improve the office and bring mental health awareness” to the office.
Other issues cited in the audit include more than $58,000 in public funds spent on flowers, a disc jockey, car detailing, an office picnic, a chili cookout and Gardner’s personal legal expenses.
Getting information from the office while Gardner was in charge was difficult, according to auditors. Employees denied or delayed audit requests for two years until subpoenaed, and “full access to documents, personnel, and the office itself was only given after the new administration took over,” according to the audit report.
Criticism of Gardner is not new.
At the time of her resignation, she was targeted for removal by Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey. And GOP lawmakers were considering a bill allowing the Republican governor to appoint a special prosecutor to handle violent crimes, effectively removing the bulk of Gardner’s responsibilities.
Gardner was part of a movement of progressive prosecutors who sought diversion to mental health treatment or drug abuse treatment for low-level crimes, pledged to hold police more accountable, and sought to free incarcerated people who were wrongfully convicted.
Republican leaders often criticized Gardner for a low homicide conviction rate, among other concerns. She frequently butted heads with police and conservatives.
In 2018, Gardner charged former Gov. Eric Greitens, then a rising star in GOP politics, with felony invasion of privacy, accusing him of taking a compromising photo of a woman during an affair. The charge was eventually dropped.
Greitens resigned in June 2018.
Scrutiny of the case led to the conviction of Gardner’s investigator, and Gardner received a written reprimand from the Missouri Supreme Court for how her office handled documents in the case.
Gardner got into more trouble after she directed her employees to issue checks to pay off a $5,004 fine related to that case, although she wasn’t entitled to the additional compensation. She agreed to repay the money with her own funds to avoid federal prosecution.
