Alabama inmate on death row for horrific 1993 murder makes desperate plea ahead of nitrogen execution
A death row prisoner in Alabama has issued a desperate plea ahead of his execution by nitrogen.
Anthony Boyd has been on death row for some 30 years after being convicted of the capital murder and kidnapping of George Huguley in 1995.
At the time, a jury voted that Boyd receive the death penalty by 10-2, and since then Boyd has been held on death row.
The trial heard that Boyd had been one of four men implicated in Huguley being doused in petrol before being set alight after he didn't pay them $200 for cocaine.
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Boyd has continued to protest his innocence since his sentencing all those years ago, with witnesses at the trial testifying that he went to a birthday party the night Huguley was killed, before spending the night at a hotel with his girlfriend.
Boyd claims he is innocent of the 1993 murder, saying: "I didn't kill anybody. I didn't participate in any killing."
A campaign has also been mounted to save him from execution, and during a recent rally organised by the campaign, he pleaded for his sentence to be commuted.
Appearing by speakerphone from the prison in Alabama where he's 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."
The 53-year-old has been scheduled to die by a new and controversial execution method called nitrogen hypoxia.
This is where the condemned person wears a gas mask, which makes them only inhale pure nitrogen.
It is seen as an alternative to the lethal injection, and has been criticized as causing 'undue suffering'.
The state of Alabama has rejected these claims and previously used the method last January on another prisoner who had been sentenced to death.
Among those campaigning for Boyd's death sentence to be dropped is Rev Jeff Hood, a co-founder of non non-profit Execution Intervention Project, which advocates for people on death row and organised the rally where Boyd spoke.
Rev Hood said: "We're here because we want the people of Alabama to know that the death penalty is more complicated than just this game of calling people monsters, this game of just tossing people away and acting like people don't matter."
Boyd is not the only prisoner on death row in connection with Huguley's murder, with another person convicted also currently being held on death row.
Alabama is the state with the highest historical rate of death sentences per capita in the United States.
It also has one of the highest execution rates in the country.
Kit Roberts