The mother of an Alabama man slated to be executed by nitrogen gas is hoping for what she says would be a miracle to save his life just hours before the state carries out the sentence.
Carol Frazier told WVTM-13 that she prays for the victims and their families and acknowledges the pain he inflicted but believes a state execution is wrong and unnecessary.
"There's no cause for that," Frazier said in the interview, noting that her son is already sentenced to life plus additional years.
Her son, Demetrius Frazier, is scheduled to die between midnight Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday morning, the station reported. In 1991, Frazier broke into the apartment of Pauline Brown. He first raped Brown and then executed her with a gunshot to the back of the head.
Before he was convicted in the Brown murder, Frazier was found guilty of killing a 14-year-old girl in Michigan in 1992. While in custody in Michigan, Frazier confessed to the Brown murder, NBC News reported. Unlike Alabama, Michigan does not have the death penalty, and Frazier would serve a life sentence there.
"I know my son has changed. Demetrius has repented," Carol Frazier, wrote in a letter to Whitmer according to NBC News. "Please don't let Alabama kill my son," she added.
With time ticking down to the execution, Carol Frazier told WVTM-13 that she was hoping her son's life could still be spared. "If Whitmer changes her mind it would be a miracle," Carol Frazier said.
In the interview with WVTM-13, she said she spoke to her son, and he said that if Whitmer did not change her mind, "I would be free from here."
Alabama began using nitrogen gas in executions last year, putting three men to death. Frazier will have a mask placed over his face that will pump nitrogen instead of oxygen. He will die from nitrogen hypoxia, CNN reported.
Frazier's attorneys challenged the constitutionality of the process, calling it cruel and inducing psychological terror, but the appeal was denied.
