Overview
- Reporters in the chamber said nitrogen began flowing at 5:57 p.m. CT, Boyd heaved and spasmed for more than 15 minutes, and he was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m.
- The Supreme Court refused to halt the execution, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, arguing the method is torturous and noting Boyd sought a firing squad.
- Alabama’s corrections chief said the movements were involuntary, while Boyd’s spiritual adviser and other witnesses said he appeared conscious and in distress.
- Boyd, 54, was convicted in 1995 for the 1993 burning death of Gregory “New York” Huguley after a 10–2 jury recommendation, and he maintained his innocence in his final words.
- The execution was Alabama’s seventh using nitrogen since January 2024, a shift from lethal injection linked to past failures and drug shortages that has heightened constitutional scrutiny of the method.