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,

An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a female hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden and made obscene gestures before being put to death 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.

Attorneys for Alabama death row inmate Toforest Johnson filed a petition in Jefferson County Circuit Court Thursday seeking a new hearing on his death sentence, citing concerns raised by the local district attorney.

A federal appeals court says it will let the nation's third execution with nitrogen gas go forward this week. The 11th U.S.

Grayson, 49, is set to die Nov. 21, within a 30-hour timeframe. He was convicted with three other men for the brutal Feb. 22, 1994, slaying and mutilation of Vicki Lynn DeBlieux.

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.