A DEATH row killer was seen making a chilling last hand gesture before being executed by nitrogen gas.
Gregory Hunt, 65, was strapped to a chair with a blue-rimmed mask covering his entire face before he was put to death at a south Alabama prison.
Hunt, who was convicted of killing a woman in 1988, did not give any final words.
However, he appeared to give a thumbs-up sign and a peace sign with his fingers shortly before prison authorities blasted nitrogen at his face.
The method involves forcing an inmate to breathe pure nitrogen gas, depriving them of the oxygen needed to stay alive.
Hunt was left convulsing for four minutes before authorities declared him dead.
He briefly shook, gasped and raised his head off the chair. He then let out a moan and raised his feet.
The killer took a series of gasping breaths with long pauses in between before dying.
Prison authorities said the movements throughout the four-minute ordeal were expected.
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said: “What I saw has been consistent with all the other nitrogen hypoxia executions. There is involuntary body movement.”
But critics say they show that the execution method does not provide a quick death.
Hunt killed 32-year-old Karen Lane inside her own apartment in 1988 after dating her for about a month.
Prosecutors said that after becoming enraged with jealousy, he broke into Lane’s apartment and sexually abused her and beat her to death, inflicting 60 injuries on her body.
Jurors convicted him in 1990 and recommended a death sentence by an 11-1 vote.
Lane’s family, who also witnessed the execution, said that the night was not about Hunt’s life but rather her horrific death.
They said Hunt showed her no mercy in 1988 and savagely took Lane away from them.
They added: “This is also not about closure or victory. This night represents justice and the end of a nightmare that has coursed through our family for 37 years.”
Hunt was among the longest-serving inmates on Alabama’s death row.
The US Supreme Court denied Hunt’s request for a stay about three hours before the execution began.
Hunt argued that prosecutors misled jurors about the evidence of sexual abuse, a claim the Alabama attorney general’s office called meritless.
On the day of his execution, he had a lunch tray that included bologna, black-eyed peas, carrots and fruit punch, prison officials said.
Hunt declined to have a dinner meal.
Last year, Alabama became the first state to carry out an execution with nitrogen gas.
The method has now been used in six executions, five in Alabama and one in Louisiana.
Hunt selected nitrogen over the other options, lethal injection or the electric chair, before Alabama developed procedures for the method.
Hunt’s was one of two executions carried out Tuesday in the country.
In Florida, Anthony Wainwright, 54, died by lethal injection for the April 1994 killing of 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart, a nursing student and mother of two young children, in Lake City.
US death penalty laws
THE death penalty in the United States is governed by both federal and state laws.
Its legality and application can vary depending on the jurisdiction.
The federal government allows the death penalty for certain crimes such as terrorism, espionage, treason, large-scale drug trafficking, and murder of a federal official or law enforcement officer.
The Federal Death Penalty Act (1994) provides the legal framework for death penalty procedures in federal cases, outlining offenses that are eligible for capital punishment and procedural protections for defendants.
As of now, 24 states permit the death penalty, while 23 have abolished it or have moratoriums.
Each state has its own laws regarding which crimes are punishable by death, usually limited to first-degree murder with aggravating circumstances (e.g., multiple murders, killing a police officer, or murder during a violent crime like robbery).
Lethal injection is the most common method of execution across the U.S., but some states have alternative methods, such as the electric chair, gas chamber, hanging, or firing squad, as secondary options or by choice of the condemned.
Some states have imposed moratoriums (temporary halts) on executions, such as California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, even though the death penalty remains legal in those states.
There has been a growing trend toward abolition, as public opinion has shifted, concerns about wrongful convictions have arisen, and the costs of death penalty cases have increased.
Death penalty cases involve a complex and lengthy appeals process, which includes automatic appeals to higher courts.
This process is designed to ensure that convictions are accurate and that no constitutional rights were violated during the trial.
Defendants in capital cases are afforded specific protections, such as the right to effective legal counsel and mental health evaluations.
