An Alabama death row inmate was executed Thursday evening by nitrogen gas, but not before a Tex-Mex-style last meal and a profane rant directed at the execution staff. Carey Dale Grayson had been on death row for 28 years following the 1994 murder and mutilation of 37-year-old hitchhiker Vickie Lynn Deblieux who was traveling from Chatanooga,

Carey Dale Grayson, 50, was put to death on Thursday in Alabama's third execution using nitrogen gas - he requested a luxury meal before his death that included tacos and chips

Carey Dale Grayson made an expletive outburst and then took several minutes to die in Alabama as he was seen gasping for breath for the murder of a hitchhiker along with his teenage friends

Carey Dale Grayson was put to death tonight in Alabama, becoming the third person in the US to be executed by controversial nitrogen hypoxia

Strapped to a gurney with a blue-rimmed gas mask on his face, Carey Dale Grayson shook at times and took a series of gasping breaths - with his heart beating for around 10 minutes after the nitrogen began flowing.

An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden and made obscene gestures with his hands shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation’s third execution using nitrogen gas.

The execution is the 22nd in the U.S. this year and the sixth in Alabama, which has put three of the men to death using nitrogen gas.

Prison officials in Alabama have executed convicted murderer Carey Dale Grayson, marking the state's sixth death sentence and third using the nitrogen gas method so far this year.

Alabama has so far been the only state to execute inmates with nitrogen hypoxia, but two other states allow it as a method of execution.

Atmore: An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden and made obscene gestures with his hands shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's third execution using nitrogen gas.

An Alabama inmate convicted of the 1994 murder of a female hitchhiker was scheduled to become the third person in the nation executed using nitrogen gas on Thursday evening.