Mother of convicted murderer asks Michigan governor to rescue son from Alabama execution

LANSING, MI — Despite abolishing the death penalty in 1963, a Michigan prisoner is scheduled to be executed next week.

Demetrius Frazier, 52, originally from Detroit, is listed in Michigan Department of Corrections online records as serving a mandatory life sentence. But he’s not in Michigan.

Due to an unusual agreement between former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and then-Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley in 2011, Frazier, whom officials deem a “sexual predator,” has for the last 14 years been imprisoned on Alabama’s Death Row.

Related: Alabama death row inmate’s lawyers drop effort to move him to Michigan

His mother, Carol Frazier, 69, of Taylor, held a press conference in Lansing Tuesday, Jan. 28 along with anti-death penalty advocates.

“We want him to come back to Michigan to finish his time here,” said Carol Frazier.

Since Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in federal court filings said her office doesn’t want Frazier back, supporters are asking Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to use her executive powers to save the twice-convicted murderer’s life.

Supporters claim Frazier’s Alabama transfer was improper and the governor should uphold the intent of Michigan’s constitutional ban on the death penalty.

Related: ‘A sexual predator’: Michigan prisons don’t want Alabama death row inmate back

Calling her son a “changed man,” the inmate’s mother intended to deliver Whitmer’s staff a handwritten letter and petitions said to contain thousands of signatures in Lansing. She hopes her son will live the rest of his life behind bars in Michigan, rather than die while strapped down inside an Alabama prison.

Advocates admit Frazier’s crimes were heinous, but oppose his execution on philosophical and legal grounds.

In 1993, a Michigan jury convicted Frazier on two counts first-degree criminal sexual assault in Detroit and the 1992 murder of 14-year-old Crystal Linda Kendrick, who police believe escaped a vacant house where Frazier intended to rape her in 1991.

Frazier chased her outside and fatally shot her in the head. A passing motorist found her naked body, according to a 1993 pre-sentence report included in new court filings.

MLive hasn’t been able to locate members of the victim’s family but the same pre-sentencing report said the family wanted Frazier sentenced to life in prison, “the electric chair” or “the same treatment” he gave Crystal.

Frazier was also convicted of breaking into a woman’s Detroit home armed with a knife on Sept. 1, 1991. Wearing a T-shirt with holes cut out for the eyes over his face, he raped the woman multiple times while multiple children were inside the home.

According to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, at the time of his arrest in 1992 when he was 19, Frazier faced 15 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, some that he’s never faced trial for.

During the Michigan investigation, Frazier revealed his responsibility in another crime, the sexual assault and murder of Pauline Brown in Alabama’s Jefferson County.

In November 1991, Frazier, according to court records, broke into Brown’s apartment. He searched the home for money and when he couldn’t find much, woke up Brown. He raped her at gunpoint, and then shot her in the head.

After he was convicted for his Michigan crimes, the Michigan Department of Corrections in 1994 temporarily transferred Frazier to Alabama’s custody to face trial for Brown’s killing. A jury found Frazier guilty and the judge sentenced him to death.

He was transferred back to Michigan until the 2011 agreement between state governors, at which time a private plane delivered Frazier back to Alabama. He’s remained there awaiting execution ever since.

Frazier is scheduled to be put to death within a 30-hour period that begins on Feb. 6 and extends into Feb. 7.

Frazier’s attorneys have put forth multiple arguments in their attempts to save Frazier’s life. Federal court filings claim the manner of execution — administering nitrogen and depriving the body of oxygen — is cruel and unusual.

Due in part to rising cost and complications linked to chemicals commonly used for lethal injection, Alabama joined several other states that allow nitrogen-induced execution.

Frazier’s attorneys also argue that the governors’ agreement was unlawful. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, whose office convicted Frazier, doesn’t recall being notified of the 2011 extradition plan.

“She was (recently) contacted by a lawyer on behalf of the defendant,” said Maria Miller, a spokesperson for Worthy. “She advised him that she thought that Gov. Whitmer would be the most appropriate person for this since the allegation is that a former governor wrongly extradited him to Alabama.”

Representatives for Whitmer’s and Nessel’s offices haven’t responded to requests for comment.

“We have current pending litigation regarding this case and will not be providing comment at this time,” said Michigan Department of Corrections spokesperson Jenni Riehle when asked about Frazier’s case and the agency’s policy on transferring prisoners to other state’s for execution.

“There is a week and two days to the execution date and there is enough time for Gov. Whitmer to issue an executive order,” said Abraham Bonowitz, an anti-death penalty advocate who’s helping coordinate efforts to save Frazier. “Everybody acknowledges that it’s a longshot.”