1,000th Person Executed in U.S. Since 1977By ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
12-02-05
RALEIGH, N.C. - A double murderer who said he didn't want to be known as a number became the 1,000th person executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed 28 years ago.
Kenneth Lee Boyd, who brazenly gunned down his estranged wife and father-in-law 17 years earlier, died at 2:15 a.m. Friday after receiving a lethal injection.
After watching Boyd die, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said the victims should be remembered. "Tonight, justice has been served for Mr. Kenneth Boyd," Page said.
Boyd's death rallied death penalty opponents, and about 150 protesters gathered outside the prison.
"Maybe Kenneth Boyd won't have died in vain, in a way, because I believe the more people think about the death penalty and are exposed to it, the more they don't like it," said Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.
"Any attention to the death penalty is good because it's a filthy, rotten system," he said.
Boyd, 57, did not deny killing Julie Curry Boyd, 36, and her father, 57-year-old Thomas Dillard Curry. But he said he thought he should be sentenced to life in prison, and he didn't like the milestone his death would mark.
"I'd hate to be remembered as that," Boyd told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I don't like the idea of being picked as a number."
The Supreme Court in 1976 ruled that capital punishment could resume after a 10-year moratorium. The first execution took place the following year, when Gary Gilmore went before a firing squad in Utah.
During the 1988 slayings, Boyd's son Christopher was pinned under his mother's body as Boyd unloaded a .357-caliber Magnum into her. The boy pushed his way under a bed to escape the barrage. Another son grabbed the pistol while Boyd tried to reload.
The evidence, said prosecutor Belinda Foster, clearly supported a death sentence.
"He went out and reloaded and came back and called 911 and said 'I've shot my wife and her father, come on and get me.' And then we heard more gunshots. It was on the 911 tape," Foster said.
In the execution chamber, Boyd smiled at daughter-in-law Kathy Smith — wife of a son from Boyd's first marriage — and a minister from his home county. He asked Smith to take care of his son and two grandchildren and she mouthed through the thick glass panes separating execution and witness rooms that her husband was waiting outside.
In his final words, Boyd said: "God bless everybody in here."
Boyd's attorney Thomas Maher, said the "execution of Kenneth Boyd has not made this a better or safer world. If this 1,000th execution is a milestone, it's a milestone we should all be ashamed of.
In Boyd's pleas for clemency, his attorneys said he served in Vietnam where he operated a bulldozer and was shot at by snipers daily, which contributed to his crimes.
Both Gov. Mike Easley and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene.
Execution No. 1,001 was scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m., when South Carolina planned to put Shawn Humphries to death for the 1994 murder of a store clerk.
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http://www.pfadp.org/
Updated Nov. 30, 2005
Kenneth Boyd May Be 1,000th
U.S. Execution Since 1977
Barring a court-ordered stay or clemency from NC Gov. Mike Easley, Kenneth Lee Boyd will be the 1,000th person executed in the United States since the resumption of executions in the United States in 1977.
Abolitionists and concerned Americans from around the country are flying and busing to North Carolina to protest Friday morning's scheduled execution of Boyd. Protests are planned in more than 12 cities around the state and in cities around the country.
Please join us in prayer and reflection on this sad milestone. Please remember to call Gov. Easley's office and consider attending a prayer service at one of many locations in the state. The governor's telephone numbers are 1-800-662-7952 (in North Carolina only) and (919) 733-5811. Sign up for our e-mail alerts and listservs for more developments on this story (see links at upper right.)
"How embarassing for North Carolina and how tragic if this execution is carried out," said Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. "The world is watching us. As our legislature is about to begin a study of the widely documented flaws in our death penalty system and as polls here continue to show broad public support for suspending executions, to carry out this execution will mark a sad, even pathetic, day in North Carolina history.
"Let us take the hundreds of millions of tax dollars North Carolina spends on the death penalty and invest it in crime prevention and in real, restorative programs aimed at meeting victims' needs," Dear said.
Gov. Easley has granted clemency twice, but has allowed more exections than any North Carolina governor since 1949.
"Gov. Easley has been on the wrong side of history," Dear said. "We pray he will have a transformation in his heart and his conscience."
Governments and faith and humanitarian groups in more than 300 cities around the world will be organizing events calling for the abolition of the death penalty on Nov. 30. The "Cities for Life - Cities Against the Death Penalty" day celebrates the anniversary of the first abolition of capital punishment by law in a European state, the Great Duchy of Tuscany in 1786. (For information visit http://www.worldcoalition.org/bcoalactu01.html)
One juror from the Boyd trial has since said that she was under the mistaken impression that the death penalty was automatic once the jurors found that the crime was premeditated. She never believed that Boyd deserved to die. In addition to her misunderstanding of the law, she felt pressured by some of the other jurors into going along with a death sentence, a decision she deeply regrets.
Additional information can be found at www.1000execution.org.
The world will be watching if North Carolina kills Kenneth Boyd early Friday morning. Let us pray, and let us act, so that it will not happen here.
Coming to Raleigh?
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North and South Carolina Plan to Kill Men Dec. 2
North Carolina plans to execute Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, at 2 a.m., Friday, Dec. 2. If the execution takes place, the state will have executed five men in 2005.
Kenneth Boyd would be the 1,00th prisoner executed in the country since the resumption of executions in 1977. For more on this sad national watch, go to www.1000executions.org/index.php.
Kenneth Boyd was sentenced to death in 1994 in Rockingham County for the murders of his estranged wife and father-in-law, Julie Curry Boyd and Thomas Dillard Curry. Boyd is a Vietnam veteran who was honorably discharged from the armed services. In the decade he has lived on death row, he has had no disciplinary infractions whatsoever.
There are ways you can take action today.
Shawn Paul Humphries is scheduled to be killed by the people of South Carolina at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2, for the murder of Mendal Alton "Dickie" Smith.
While it was a terrible crime, this case should never have been considered for the death penalty. It was an attempted armed robbery where the victim reached for a gun and the defendant fired once and ran. Of the hundreds of tragic murders that take place every year in South Carolina, this was clearly not the worst of the worst.
In fact, the vast majority of people who commit murder in South Carolina, who are caught, and who are eligible for the death penalty do no get the death penalty. Most murderers the alternate sentence of life without parole. In the name of fairness and equal justice, join us in urging S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford to show mercy by commuting Humphries' sentence to life without parole.
South Carolina Equal Justice Alliance
Sample Letter to Gov. Mark Sanford
Vigils, Services Planned Against
Execution of Kenneth Lee Boyd
Raleigh
There is a demonstration against the death penalty every Monday, 5-6 p.m., in front of Central Prison on Western Boulevard in Raleigh.
Raleigh
Dec 1, noon to 1 p.m. on the south grounds of the State Capitol.
Brevard
Wednesday, Nov. 30, 6-7 p.m. Candlelight vigil in the parking lot of The Transylvania Times newspaper, on Broad Street, across the street from the courthouse. Discussion to follow until 8 p.m. at Quotations Coffee Shop on Main Street. Contact Connie L. Nash, newlease7@yahoo.com, or (828) 553-5467 or (828) 884-9467.
Duke University, Durham
Thursday, Dec. 1, noon to 1 p.m., on the steps of the Duke Chapel. Prayer vigil and witness against the execution of Kenneth Lee Boyd.
Murphy
Thursday, Dec. 1, noon, Murphy Courthouse on Peachtree Street. Prayer vigil. Contact Judith McBriar at (828) 837-1404 for more information.
Winston-Salem
Thursday, Dec. 1, 4:45 to 6 p.m. The Winston-Salem Friends Meeting will hold a candlelight vigil at 3153 Reynolda Road. Contact Katie Ford, katieford@bellsouth.net, for more information.
Weaverville
Thursday, Dec. 1, 5-6:30 p.m. at the town clock (where Weaverville Highway/Merrimon Avenue runs into Main Street).
Asheville
Thursday, Dec. 1, 5-6:30 p.m. at the Vance Monument, intersection of Patton Avenue and Biltmore in downtown Asheville.
Charlotte
Thursday, Dec. 1, 6 p.m., near the statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Marshall Park, between Second and Third streets on McDowell. The statute is on the Third Street Side of the park. For more information, contact Faith Bushnaq at fbushnaq@bushnaqlaw.com or (704) 343-9040.
Belmont
Thursday, Dec. 1, 6:30 p.m., in front of the Basilica at Belmont Abbey College. Prayer service for Kenneth Lee Boyd, his victims and their families.
Durham
Thursday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m. Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 810 West Chapel Hill St., Durham. See www.immaculate-conception-church.org for directions.
Chapel Hill
Thursday, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m. Newman Catholic Student Center Parish at 218 Pittsboro St. Prayer vigil for Kenneth Boyd, his victims and their families.
Raleigh
Thursday, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m., Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh. (This is a change from a previously announced location.) Prayer service for Kenneth Lee Boyd, his victims and their families. After the service, participants will process with candlelight to Central Prison for a vigil that is expected to last until about 2:30 a.m. However, participants are welcome to come and go as needed.
Elon University
Thursday, Dec. 1, 8 p.m. Vigil in front of the Alamance Building on the Elon Campus.
Steve McHone Executed Nov. 11
Steven McHone was executed at 2 a.m. Nov. 11. The NC Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution the afternoon of Nov. 10, and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his final appeal that evening. For a news story on the execution, click here.
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Elias Syriani Executed Nov. 18
Elias Syriani, 67, was executed at 2 a.m. Nov. 18. Gov. Michael Easley denied clemency as about 70 people gathered at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church to pray for Syriani and his family and for clemency.
He was executed for the murder of his wife, Teresa, about 15 years ago. Their children had lobbied hard for clemency from the governor, raising the attention of the national media. They have appeared on Larry King Live and Good Morning America to plead for their father's life..
After 11 p.m. Dec. 17, Rose, Sarah, John, and Janet Syriani walked out of Central Prison with attorneys Henderson Hill and Russell Sizemore. They thanked the crowd of people gathered on the sidewalk in front of the prison, holding candles and praying, and were then driven away from the prison for the last time.
Their father died less than three hours later.
Click here for an eyewitness account of Mr. Syriani's death.
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People of Faith Against the Death Penalty
110 W. Main St., Suite 2G
Carrboro, NC 27510
(919) 933-7567 FAX (919) 933-5611
info@pfadp.org
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