Unless Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer acts before his Wednesday, Feb. 6, execution date, Demetrius Frazier will be the first Michigan prisoner to be executed in the 188 years since Michigan became a state.
In 1992, Frazier was arrested and convicted in Wayne County, Michigan, at the age of 19, after being subjected to troubling and abusive childhood circumstances. He was sentenced to three life sentences without parole for criminal sexual conduct and murder in connection with sexual conduct.
While under arrest in Michigan, Frazier confessed to committing a similar crime in Alabama, and in 1995, Alabama “borrowed” Frazier, convicted him of murder, and sentenced him to death. Because of his prior Michigan sentences, he was then returned to Michigan’s custody.
But in 2011, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley agreed to transfer Frazier to Alabama’s death row. Frazier’s lawyers were not given notice of this agreement and had no opportunity to object.
Alabama now seeks to make Frazier the 785th person it has executed since it became a state in 1819 and the 79th in the death penalty’s “modern era.” He would be the fourth man suffocated by nitrogen gas, using a still-experimental and arguably torturous method of execution.
Alabama’s death penalty is infamous for its racial bias. According to a 2011 study, people convicted of killing a white person are more than four times more likely to get a death sentence than people convicted of killing someone who is not white. And just last year, an Alabama court refused to even consider the evidence of illegal racial bias in jury selection in a separate case.
Last week, Frazier filed a lawsuit in federal court in Alabama, challenging his illegal transfer from Michigan to Alabama. Disappointingly, Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that her “department does not intervene in other states’ criminal matters” and declined to request Frazier’s return to Michigan.
Nessel’s position betrays Michigan’s long history of resistance to immoral and unjust laws and practices. In the 1800s, Adam Crosswhite and his family — who escaped enslavement in Kentucky for the freedom of Marshall, Michigan — could have been kidnapped and returned to bondage. Instead, they were saved by the entire town, “including the sheriff and prominent Black and white citizens.” The heroism of the people of Marshall helped spur the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Those Michigan leaders had no problem intervening in “other states’ criminal matters.”
The state of Michigan has never executed a person in its custody. In 1847, it became the first English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty. Michiganders felt so strongly about continuing this policy and practice that in 1963, Michigan became the first United States jurisdiction to include a prohibition on capital punishment in its constitution.
A bipartisan array of governors has upheld this policy. Even Snyder, the co-signatory to the improper agreement to transfer Frazier to Alabama, apparently had a change of heart when it came time to deliver a different person under death sentence to another state to face execution. Just four years after sending Frazier to Alabama, Snyder’s enforcement of Michigan’s policy led to his refusal to turn over Clarence Ray, a Michigan man serving life without parole for murder, to California and its execution chamber. Michigan officials said at the time they would not extradite people to states with the death penalty.
The only obvious differences between Frazier and Ray are their races (Frazier is Black; Ray is white) and the states in which they committed their second (and capital) murders.
On Tuesday, Frazier’s elderly mother attempted to meet with Whitmer and deliver a letter, asking her to demand Demetrius’ return to Michigan. Neither the governor nor any staff member agreed to meet with Mrs. Frazier.
But there is precedent for Whitmer to act courageously. The governors of California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have each declared moratoria on executions under their leadership. Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted all death sentences in his state, leading to the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois. And most recently, President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 men on federal death row.
As a leader of a racial justice organization proudly born and raised in Detroit, I know that taking a stand requires courage. And I draw strength and inspiration from the deep roots of resistance in places like Marshall, Michigan.
Demanding Demetrius Frazier’s return to Michigan is simply the right thing to do.
Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.