Ten
years ago on this date, December 2, 2005, Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1,000th
person executed since the United States Supreme Court lifted a ban on capital
punishment in Gregg v. Georgia. I
will post information about him from Wikipedia and other links.
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Kenneth Lee Boyd
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Kenneth Lee Boyd
(January 19, 1948 – December 2, 2005) was an American murderer who was executed by
the U.S. state of North Carolina. He was convicted of the
March 4, 1988 murder in Stoneville
of his wife, Julie Curry Boyd and her father Thomas Dillard Curry. He was
pronounced dead at 2:15 a.m. EST
on December 2, 2005 at the North Carolina Central Prison in Raleigh
by lethal injection.
Boyd
was the 1,000th person executed since the United States Supreme Court lifted a
ban on capital punishment in Gregg v. Georgia.
Murders
After
leaving school in the ninth grade, Boyd later joined the United States Army and volunteered for a tour of
duty in Vietnam in 1967. Two years later he received an honorable discharge. After his first marriage
had ended in divorce, he married Julie. This second marriage, which resulted in
three boys, had a series of arguments, separations, and reconciliations.
On
March 4, 1988 he went to the house of her father, where she and their children
were living, while Boyd and Julie were separated once again. He told police
that he found the door unlocked and entered with a .357
Magnum pistol.
Seeing a silhouette that he thought was Thomas, he fired and hit him. He
continued firing as he moved through the house, finding Julie in the kitchen.
While reloading he heard her moan and so shot her again. He fired at anything
that moved and then rang 9-1-1 and told police to "come and get me". When they
arrived, Boyd emerged from nearby woods and surrendered. He gave a full
confession after being read his Miranda
warning. Boyd was arrested and sentenced to death row.
Trial
and appeals
After
being indicted on May 16, 1988, he was tried, convicted and received a death
sentence for each murder from a jury in Rockingham
County. This conviction and sentence was overturned on appeal to the
North
Carolina Supreme Court on the grounds that a juror was improperly
excused after a private, unrecorded bench conference with the juror. A new
trial resulted in Boyd once again being convicted and sentenced to death on
July 14, 1994. The sole aggravating circumstance was that the murder was committed
during the commission of other acts of violence.
Psychiatrists
testified as expert witnesses at his trial that Boyd suffered from several
mental health issues at the time of the murders. Dr. Patricio Lara said that
Boyd suffered from adjustment disorder
with psychotic
emotional features, alcohol abuse, and a personality disorder
with predominante compulsive-dependent
features. Dr. John Warren diagnosed chronic depression,
alcohol abuse disorder, dependent
personality disorder, and a reading disability.
He had an IQ of
77, placing him into "borderline deficiency" region of the Wechsler
Adult Intelligence Scale, one level above "mild mental retardation.
The
Supreme
Court of the United States turned down Boyd's petition for a writ of
certiorari on October 3, 2005. Ten days
later, the North Carolina Secretary of Corrections, Theodis
Beck, set the execution date for December 2, 2005.
Less
than four hours before the scheduled time, Governor
Mike Easley denied Boyd clemency. It was
just after the Supreme
Court of the United States had denied another appeal by Boyd's
lawyers.
Execution
In
the early hours of December 2, 2005, Boyd was executed by lethal injection. He
was pronounced dead at 2:15 a.m.. He would be the 1,000th person to be executed
since 1977, when the death penalty was reinstated.
In
his final statement, he asked that his son and grandchildren be looked after
and finished with "God bless everybody in here."
Boyd's
last meal consisted of New York strip steak, a baked potato with sour cream,
salad with ranch dressing, and cola.
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