A DEATH row inmate has been executed by nitrogen gas suffocation for burning a man alive over a $200 cocaine debt.
Anthony Boyd’s haunting last words in the Alabama death chamber protested his innocence and called out the execution system as unjust.
The execution on Thursday appeared to last longer than usual, with gas flowing for half an hour before Boyd, 54, was pronounced dead.
When prompted for his dying words, Boyd said: “I didn’t kill anybody. I didn’t participate in killing anybody.
“There can be no justice until we change this system… Let’s get it.”
Boyd was then strapped to a gurney and fitted with an industrial face mask, which pumped out nitrogen to starve his body of oxygen.
Reporters watching the execution noticed Boyd clench his fists, raise his head and begin shaking at 5:57pm.
He also raised his legs up off the gurney by several inches.
At 6:01pm, he began a long series of heaving breaths, which went on for at least 15 minutes, before he fell still.
The curtain was closed to the execution chamber at 6:27pm, and Boyd was pronounced dead at 6:33pm.
The exact time the gas begins flowing is not revealed, and it is kept flowing for five minutes after the prisoner’s heart stops.
Boyd faced the controversial method – described as “cruel and unusual” by critics – after losing his appeal to be executed by firing squad instead.
He had begged the state’s governor to meet him “before an innocent man is killed”, but the execution went ahead nonetheless.
Boyd languished on death row at William C Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore for over 30 years.
He was convicted of helping to burn alive 32-year-old Gregory Huguley in 1993, because the victim owed $200 for some cocaine.
Huguley was driven to a baseball field, bound with duct tape, doused with gasoline and set on fire.
Boyd was convicted largely on the testimony of a co-defendant, Quintay Cox, who was spared the death penalty.
Court heard that Boyd taped Huguley’s feet together before another man doused him in gasoline and set him on fire.
A jury convicted Boyd of capital murder during a kidnapping and recommended by a vote of 10-2 that he receive a death sentence.
This was the 40th execution in the United States this year, the most since 2012, when 43 inmates were put to death.
Florida has carried out the most executions with 14, followed by Texas and Alabama with five each.
The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others – California, Oregon and Pennsylvania – have moratoriums in place.
President Donald Trump is an advocate of capital punishment and, on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”
