Alabama inmate’s shocking final words before controversial execution for horrific 1993 murder
An Alabama inmate made a bold statement against the state in his final words before being executed.
Alabama inmate Anthony Boyd has been on death row for about 30 years and has repeatedly insisted on his innocence.
The 54-year-old was put to death using the controversial nitrogen gas method on Thursday, October 23, for the 1993 murder of Gregory Huguley.
This is where the person sentenced wears a gas mask and inhales pure nitrogen. The method is considered an alternative to lethal injections.
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Those against the method have argued that it causes ‘undue suffering’ - claims that the state of Alabama has denied. The execution of Boyd is said to have taken a long time, according to witnesses, and was the state’s longest nitrogen gas execution.
Boyd was sentenced in 1995 after a jury voted that he receive the death penalty by 10-2. Since then, Boyd has continued to deny any involvement, and at the trial, he testified that he went to a birthday party the night Huguley was killed, before going to a hotel with his girlfriend.
Prosecutors claimed that he taped Huguley’s feet together before another person doused him with gasoline and set him alight over a $200 cocaine debt.
Ahead of being executed, speaking from the prison in Alabama where he was being held, Boyd said: "This is not just about me.
"This is about the injustice that's going on in this state. I'm a prime example of these crooked courts and the way they fight."
Boyd refused his final meal ahead of being executed but issued a lengthy and condemning statement before being killed by the state of Alabama.
According to a report by Montgomery Advertiser, in his final words, Boyd said: "I just want to say again, I didn't kill anybody, I didn't participate in killing anybody. Just want everyone to know, there is no justice in this state.”
He also reiterated that all of his previous appeals, despite being unsuccessful, were valid and argued that the courts ‘all backed each other up’ to ensure his execution went ahead.
Boyd added that justice happens when change occurs and insisted that an execution ‘is not about closure because closure comes from within, not from an execution."
He closed by saying: “It's all political, it's all revenge-motivated. There is no justice in the state, there can be no justice in the state.
“I want all my people to keep fighting, you all matter. Let's get it."
Gerrard Kaonga