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NORTH CAROLINA. KENNETH LEE BOYD BECOMES 1,000TH PERSON EXECUTED IN U.S. SINCE 1977
December 2, 2005: a convicted murderer was put to death in the nation's 1,000th execution since capital punishment resumed in 1977. Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 2:15 a.m., said state Department of Correction spokeswoman Pam Walker. Boyd was convicted of killing his estranged wife and father-in-law in 1988.
His death came after both Gov. Mike Easley and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene and stop the execution.
Larger-than-normal crowds gathered at the prison in Raleigh, where prison officials tightened security. Police arrested 16 protesters who sat down on the prison's four-lane driveway, officials said.
Boyd, 57, did not deny that he shot and killed Julie Curry Boyd, 36, and her father, 57-year-old Thomas Dillard Curry. Family members said Boyd stalked his estranged wife after they separated following 13 stormy years of marriage and once sent a son to her house with a bullet and a threatening note.
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.
Boyd told The Associated Press in a prison interview that he wants no part of the infamous numerical distinction. "I'd hate to be remembered as that," Boyd said Wednesday. "I don't like the idea of being picked as a number."
In Boyd's plea for clemency, his attorneys said he served in Vietnam where he was shot at by snipers daily, which contributed to his crimes. (Sources: Ap, 02/12/2005)
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