A man found guilty of brutally murdering a woman nearly 37 years ago was executed on Tuesday evening in Alabama, marking the country’s sixth execution using nitrogen gas.
Gregory Hunt was declared dead at 6:26 p. m. on Tuesday at a prison in southern Alabama. Strapped to a gurney and with his face fully covered by a blue-rimmed mask, Hunt offered no final words but seemed to make a thumbs-up gesture and a peace sign with his fingers before the gas was released.
The exact moment when the gas was introduced remains unclear.
Hunt briefly convulsed, gasped for air and lifted his head from the gurney. He let out a groan around 5:59 p, reports the Mirror US and raised his feet.
He took a series of four or more gasping breaths with lengthy pauses in between, and showed no visible movements after 6:05 p. m.
The execution in Alabama is one of four that were planned this week across the United States. Executions are also due to take place in Florida and South Carolina.
A judge in Oklahoma issued a temporary stay of execution in that state on Monday, although the state attorney general is attempting to have it overturned.
Hunt was convicted of the murder of Karen Lane, a woman he had been seeing for approximately a month, according to court documents. Lane was 32 years old when she was killed on August 2, 1988, in the Cordova flat she shared with a woman who was Hunt’s cousin.
Prosecutors alleged that Hunt broke into Lane’s apartment, subjected her to sexual abuse, and then murdered her. A medical expert testified that Lane’s death was caused by severe blunt force trauma, having sustained around 60 injuries, including 20 to the head, as revealed during the autopsy.
On June 19, 1990, a jury delivered a guilty verdict against Hunt for capital murder, committed during an act of sexual abuse and burglary. The jury voted 11-1 in favour of the death penalty, which was subsequently imposed by the judge.
In his final attempt to secure a stay of execution, Hunt, representing himself, claimed that prosecutors had presented false evidence of sexual abuse to the jury. The alleged sexual abuse was the critical factor that elevated the crime to a capital offence, warranting the death penalty.
In a petition to the US Supreme Court, Hunt argued that a prosecutor had misled the jury by stating that cervical mucus was found on a nearby broomstick. However, this claim was disputed as the victim had previously undergone a hysterectomy, making it impossible for cervical mucus to be present.
The Alabama attorney general’s office dismissed Hunt’s claim as meritless, arguing that even if the prosecutor’s statement was incorrect, it did not undermine the conviction.
In a phone conversation from prison last month, Hunt did not deny killing Lane but insisted that he did not sexually assault her. He described himself as a changed person due to his time in prison, expressing remorse for his actions.
“Karen didn’t deserve what happened to her,” Hunt said.
Hunt attributed his actions on the night of the crime to a combination of drinking and drug use, which fuelled his jealousy when he saw Lane in a car with another man. “You have your come-to-Jesus moment. Of course, after the fact, you can’t believe what has happened. You can’t believe you were part of it and did it,” Hunt revealed.
Now one of the longest-serving inmates on Alabama’s death row, Hunt, who arrived there in 1990, described prison as his “hospital” for mending his shattered mind. He had been conducting a Bible class that attracted over two dozen inmates.
“Just trying to be a light in a dark place, trying to tell people if I can change, they can too. … become people of love instead of hate,” Hunt said.
“The way she was killed is just devastating,” Denise Gurganus, Lane’s sister, recounted to WBRC during a 2014 vigil for crime victims. “It’s hard enough to lose a family member to death, but when it’s this gruesome.”
The Alabama attorney general’s office, in its plea for justices to dismiss Hunt’s request for a stay of execution, pointed out that Hunt has spent more time on death row than Lane had been alive.
Alabama made history last year by becoming the first state to execute an inmate using nitrogen gas. To date, nitrogen has been employed in five executions – four in Alabama and one in Louisiana.
The process involves forcing an inmate to inhale pure nitrogen through a gas mask, cutting off the oxygen supply necessary for survival.
Hunt had identified nitrogen as his preferred method of execution. This choice was made before Alabama had established procedures for using gas.
The state also permits inmates to opt for lethal injection or the electric chair.
