Alabama on Thursday executed a death row inmate using a method Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor called « torturous suffocation » for a 1993 murder that he maintains he did not commit.
Oct. 23 Alabama on Thursday executed a death row inmate using a method Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor called « torturous suffocation » for a 1993 murder that he maintains he did not commit.
Anthony Boyd, 53, was killed by nitrogen hypoxia at the William C. Holman Correction Facility in Atmore, Ala., the state’s department of corrections told UPI in a statement.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey had issued a 30-hour time frame for Boyd’s death sentence to be carried out, from 12 a.m. CDT Thursday, with it starting on time at 6 p.m.
Boyd was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m., the Alabama Department of Corrections told UPI.
He was sentenced to die for the 1993 murder of Gregory Huguley in Talladega County. Boyd was convicted of killing Huguley over a $200 cocaine debt. He and others duct-taped Huguley to a bench in a baseball field, doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.
« For more than 30 years, Boyd sought to delay justice through endless litigation, yet he never once presented evidence that the jury was wrong », Alabama Attorney General Steven Marshall said in a statement issued after Boyd was killed.
« Gregory Huguley was never afforded the chance to delay his own brutal and untimely death. »
On Wednesday, he had three visitors and four phone calls, ate breakfast, lunch and snacks but refused dinner.
On Thursday, he had nine visitors and two phone calls. He ate breakfast and lunch, and snacks throughout the day, but declined a final meal request.
Boyd has maintained his innocence, and has pleaded with Ivey to meet with him.
During a press conference held Thursday morning by the Execution Intervention Project, a recording of a call Boyd made to Ivey on Wednesday night was played.
Boyd repeated his request for a meeting with Ivey.
