Demetrius Terrence Frazier is set to be executed with nitrogen gas for the rape and murder of 41-year-old Pauline Brown in Birmingham, Alabama.

Prosecutors said on Nov. 27, 1991, that Frazier, then 19, broke into Brown’s apartment through a window while she was asleep. Prosecutors said he demanded money and raped Brown at gunpoint after she gave him $80 from her purse. He then shot her in the head. He later returned to the apartment to have a snack and look for money, prosecutors said.

The execution is set for 6:00 pm Central Time (0000 GMT) at a prison in Atmore, Alabama. The process will involve pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, leading to suffocation. Alabama has already carried out three executions by this method last year.

A federal judge on Friday refused to stop what would be the fourth nitrogen gas execution in the U.S., saying the inmate had not proven his claims that the new method is unconstitutionally cruel and causes psychological terror.

WASHINGTON: A serial rapist and murderer is to be put to death by nitrogen gas in Alabama on Thursday, the fourth use of the controversial execution method in the southern US state. Demetrius Frazier,

A serial rapist and murderer is to be put to death by nitrogen gas in Alabama, the fourth use of the controversial execution method in the southern state.

A federal judge has heard competing testimony over a request to block the nation's fourth execution using nitrogen gas.