State awaits 1000th execution (big disappointment in California - Tookie is not No. 1000)

theadvertiser.news.com.au ^ | 12-1-05 | Andy Sullivan

[doug from upland]

BREAKING NEWS

This story is from our news.com.au network Source: Reuters

State awaits 1000th execution By Andy Sullivan in Raleigh, North Carolina 02dec05 DEATH penalty opponents marched by candlelight to a North Carolina prison as the state prepared to execute the 1000th prisoner in the US since capital punishment was reinstated nearly 30 years ago.

Less than four hours before Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, was scheduled to die by lethal injection for shooting his wife and father-in-law in 1988 in front of two of his children, state Governor Mike Easley said he was denying clemency.

The US Supreme Court had rejected a final appeal earlier yesterday (local time).

"Having carefully reviewed the facts and circumstances of these crimes and convictions, I find no compelling reason to grant clemency and overturn the unanimous jury verdict affirmed by the state and federal courts," Mr Easley said.

Clemency from the governor had been Boyd's last chance to avoid execution. He will be strapped to a gurney at 2am today (1800 AEDT) and given an opportunity to make a last statement.

He will then be injected with three drugs – sodium pentothal to put him to sleep, pancuronium bromide to paralyse him, and potassium chloride to stop his heart. Five minutes after his heart stops, he will officially be declared dead.

Boyd's lawyer Thomas Maher, who spoke to his client earlier in the day, said he was calm as he prepared to die.

"His concern is that who he is will get lost in a bizarre coincidence that he's number 1000," Maher told Reuters. "He said it best: 'I'm a person, not a statistic.'"

Outside Raleigh's Central Prison, opponents of capital punishment gathered after an interfaith prayer service to protest against the pending execution.

"What we are doing in the name of our government is in all of our names, and we do not want our names to be attached to this injustice," Rabbi Lucy Dinner said at the service, attended by about 100 people.

The Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976, and 38 of the 50 American states and the Federal Government now permit capital punishment.

Only China, Iran and Vietnam held more executions in 2004 than the US, according to rights group Amnesty International.

Alan Gell, who sat on death row with Boyd before he was retried and acquitted in 2004, said his case had showed the state's justice system was flawed.

"I think that it's a bad thing that this state has to be the one to set the milestone when it's a state that's riddled with flaws in its justice system," he said after attending the service.

Mr Gell was retried and acquitted after a judge ruled prosecutors had withheld evidence in his first trial.

North Carolina Department of Corrections spokeswoman Pamela Walker said Boyd was spending his final hours with his family.

About 5pm, he received his requested final meal of New York strip steak, a baked potato with sour cream, salad with ranch dressing and cola, no dessert.

Boyd, a Vietnam veteran with a history of alcohol abuse, worked in a cotton mill and as a truck driver before he went to prison. Mr Maher said he did not have a violent record before he committed the double murder.

Rockingham County District Attorney Belinda Foster, who won his conviction, said Boyd carried out the murders in a deliberate manner, returning to his truck to reload at one point and calling emergency workers to report the crime as he was still shooting.

Although the death penalty remains favoured by a clear majority of Americans, the number of executions has fallen sharply in recent years.

Neighbouring South Carolina is scheduled next to execute Shawn Paul Humphries at 6pm today, also by lethal injection, for the killing of a convenience store owner in a robbery.

[doug from upland]

In less than half an hour, a man who killed his estranged wife and her father in front of their two children will be leaving his earthly bonds.

[ncountylee]

Whatever number Tookie gets will still be a good one.

[Lurker]

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

L

[TCats]

"His concern is that who he is will get lost in a bizarre coincidence that he's number 1000"

Interesting that nowhere in the article was evidence of his concern for his victims as persons deserving of a longer life than he granted them.

After all is said and done, I'll prefer to remember this animal as a number and ignore any part of the person who committed these acts.

I can hear the Gurney rolling into the chamber as I post this.

[doug from upland]

Is this on pay per view or a webcam?

[TCats]

I don't think so but, in my mind, the sound of that Gurney was clear as a bell. :-)

[budman_2001]

#1000 is down, more to go according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics:

U.S. Department of Justice · Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics

Key Facts at a Glance
Prisoners on death row

Number of persons under sentence of death, 1953-2004

Year	Number of prisoners under sentence of death
1953	131
1954	147
1955	125
1956	146
1957	151
1958	147
1959	164
1960	212
1961	257
1962	267
1963	297
1964	315
1965	331
1966	406
1967	435
1968	517
1969	575
1970	631
1971	642
1972	334
1973	134
1974	244
1975	488
1976	420
1977	423
1978	482
1979	593
1980	692
1981	860
1982	1,066
1983	1,209
1984	1,420
1985	1,575
1986	1,800
1987	1,967
1988	2,117
1989	2,243
1990	2,346
1991	2,465
1992	2,580
1993	2,727
1994	2,905
1995	3,064
1996	3,242
1997	3,328
1998	3,465
1999	3,540
2000	3,601
2001	3,577
2002	3,562
2003	3,378
2004	3,315
Source: Capital Punishment 2004, November 2005, NCJ 211349

[budman_2001]

Visual:

[Gabz]

He was declared dead at 2:15am Eastern time.

[doug from upland]

Yep. Just heard it on KFI.

[I Drive Too Fast]

From a similar article on Yahoo {from AP} came this quote -

"He made one mistake and now it's costing him his life," said Kenneth Smith, 35, who visited with his wife and two children. "A lot of people get a second chance. I think he deserves a second chance."

In his final statement, Boyd spoke to Smith's wife, asking her to "look after my son and my grandchildren." - she is the daughter-in-law

Yes, his one mistake was a double murder. Talk about sympathy for the devil.

Now, all I can say is NEXT.