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

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.

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

A judge on Wednesday refused to stop the nation’s third scheduled execution by nitrogen gas that is planned in Alabama for later this month.