Hey there, folks, say, it is Wednesday, October twenty second, and a man left a four minute voice message for the governor of Alabama, please don't execute me, And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. That's literally what he said, but it was more to it than that. This death row inmate in Alabama wants the governor to come see him before he's executed. And the clock is ticking.
It certainly is. He is scheduled to die by nitrogen gas at six pm tomorrow, that's Thursday evening. And in this plea, he maintains his innocence, as he has for more than thirty years. He was convicted. He was among four people that were convicted in this kidnapping and murder of a man in nineteen ninety three in the state of Alabama. But again he has maintained his innocence and he is begging the governor of Alabama to sit down and talk with him, to look him in the eye.
And the man's name is Anthony Todd Boyd. And folks, you have probably noticed here on our feed we have covered quite a bit of executions because frankly, there have been quite a bit in this country this year, we've been talking about that this is another and you could argue robes even though October has been a pretty busy month, if you will, in executions, there's some people who will roll their eyes and say they all say they're innocent.
And I understand that. I think there's everybody in prison, a very few raising their hands and say yeah, I did it keep me in here. But there are some here that have raised some serious questions. This seems to be another.
Yes, and it's not just one or two people saying this. The Death Penalty Information Center is a place we've actually used a source of information for a lot of these executions, but their latest headline published today, despite serious concerns about trials fairness and Anthony Boyd's innocence, Alabama plans to execute
him using nitrogen gas. Yes, there are a lot of questions about his representation at the time and the fact that the only reason why or the only bit of evidence used against him was eyewitness testimony, which we all know is the least reliable. There was and is no there were no fingerprints, forensics, nothing. So when you really look at this case, when you're just obviously we're not legal experts here, but it does draw into question whether or not this man got a fair show.
Well, there are several of these executions or guys that admitted guilt. There are several were there's not the innocence project. They are banging down the door saying this person's innocence. So no, there are some there aren't these questions, but there seem to be too many, and several lately where there are these questions. Even last week as we sit here, one execution was stayed because there are questions about the innocence, the guilty innocence of the man on death row that
was in Texas, Robert Robert Robertson, Robert Robertson. So this does seem to be another and we're going to go back at least maybe not a name you all know. Anthony Todd Boyd is his name. He's fifty three at this point. But he is waiting at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama. That is where they carry out their executions. He is waiting to die now. He is there, convicted, he's been on death row. When is that that thirty.
Years robes from thirty plus years he.
Was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of a man in nineteen ninety three. And he is again this is not just this late hour. He has always maintained his innocence. Now robes this crime is. I mean, it's pretty heinous to hear what did take place where this was in nineteen ninety three. Four men involved, Allegedly Boyd was one of them. I say allegedly because of the questions he has, but he has been convicted of it. He's not the one who he helped, if you will, in this murder.
The eyewitness testimony that put him away said that something he helped bind the legs or at least hold his legs. But the victim in this case, Gregory Hughgelely, was kidnapped by four men and then burned alive. They literally, according to court records, through gasoline on him and set him on fire and watched him die. And apparently the motive was a two hundred dollars drug debt that was owed that this Gregory Hughley allegedly reportedly owed someone.
So he ends up getting hauled in goes to trial. Now this case, the prosecution's case was very much dependent at the time on one of Boyd's co defendants who testified against him, and he got a better plea deal. Also, a trial came out. Look, there was, like you just mentioned, there was no physical evidence here. Even the state medical examiner said, we got no and to connect this guy to the crime. There were no fingerprints that match. But
this trial went on for three days. Jury came back, he was convicted, and they voted ten to two for the death penalty. Now the problems robes here with the trial seemed to be he got terrible representation for a death penalty case.
Yes, so he had a court appointed attorney who was paid a capped fee of one thousand dollars, and his attorney, before the trial even started, complained and said, I don't want this case. I can't take this on. This is basically pro bono work. And the judge said, too bad. You've got a month figure it out. A month to prepare a case where a man's life is on the line, a death penalty case. And so, according to several documents, he did not call witnesses to corroborate where Anthony Boyd
said he was. He said he was at a birthday party. He said he wasn't with this group he had. He never looked at any of the prosecutorial witness sister talk to them ahead of time. Here was the other issue. The prosecutor in this case was his attorney's former boss. So Anthony Boyd's court appointed attorney, who only made a thousand bucks, who didn't want the case, had just left a job working for the man prosecuting him.
Now, you don't have to be some legal scholar to hear that and go, well, that doesn't sound right. It doesn't That's not okay when somebody's life is on the line. Now, the representation they talked about him getting sounds atrocious. And even if you're trying to get off on a misdemeanor from stealing hub abubb a gum, you want better representation that this guy seemed to have. This seems to be a travesty when your own lawyer is saying out loud to the judge, I don't want to be here one
thousand dollars of flat feet. How many hours do you put in as an attorney?
Apparently he didn't put in many.
Yeah, for a month for a death penalty case. So those are some of the issues and the questions that have come up. Look, he has been denied at every turn. Know that this is not just a last minute appeal where he's trying to get off death row. He's been at this for years and he has been shot down at every turn, and there is not a single court said okay, we'll take a look. And he gave him any hope that anything's going to be different in the next.
Oh No, he turned away and turned down time after time. Even in October. There was a district judge. Did you I'm sure you read some of her very tough language, but she noted because he was trying to say he wanted to stay of execution because he did not want to die by nitrogen gas. He actually offered to die by hanging, die by firing squad, other than dying by nitrogen gas. But she basically just said you shouldn't expect not to be in pain, that this is what happens
when you have a death sentence. You have physical pain and you have mental pain, and you're probably going to have both and that's the way it's going to be.
Yeah, the way she put it, it's an experience which attends every execution and cannot be avoided. Okay, I mean she's yes, I agree, she is right about that. But but but Boyd has been trying at every turn the governor that they've already said, Look, we have seen nothing, nothing that exonerates this man. We see nothing that suggests he is not guilty of participating in a heinous crime. Again, a kidnapping, and a man was set on fire while he was alive. He was burned alive. That's an awful,
awful crime. But to Boyd's I say credit. But it sounded as if as well, Rob you mentioned he said he was somewhere else. It sounded like he had a pretty solid alibi.
He did. He and then he said he spent the night with his girlfriend, and he said he had witnesses who could absolutely corroborate his whereabouts and where he spent the night in the fact that he did not leave that party and he was not there on the scene.
See again, there are plenty on the sign who say this. We've had thirty years to do this, You had thirty years to talk about this, and every quarter is taking a look at your case has said no. And here we are.
I know we listened to this voice memo though this plea, this audio I haven't heard anything quite like that before this plea to the governor, where he starts by saying his name. He says, Hi, this is Anthony Boyd, the
guy that you have scheduled an execution for. He says, I'm asking, extending offering, giving you an invitation to please come sit down and talk to me before this execution is carried out, before an innocent man is executed, come sit down with me and have a conversation with the guy that you deemed one of the worst of the worst, know, the guy that's innocent on Alabama's death row. He does not mince words.
No. Look, it's a four minute plea and they played it at a press conference his spiritual advisor. And yes, that's what he's supposed to do. You're supposed to get out there in front of the public. You're supposed to make a public plea. It's supposed to pull people's heartstrings. It's supposed to bring attention, and it did, and it was four minutes long. The chances of that happening are pretty zero.
They've already been shot down.
But come sit down and talk to me, he said in there plenty of times, or at least on more than one occasion. When you sit down with me, if you feel if you look at me and you think I'm being deceptive, you think I'm being dishonest, go ahead, carry out the punishment. That was a interesting challenge. He was like, you come sit down with me, you'll be assured that I'm not guilty.
That was interesting, It was effective for me. That's right, he said, Then please carry out the sentence. You're right. It was a challenge because he's that sure that he is so innocent that when she spoke with him, or if she's saw him and heard him.
She would believe him.
That's hard to imagine, but he actually felt like that was I mean, look, at this point, he doesn't have any options.
No, at this point, I do not know if he has a single one. Somebody could have a change of heart, possibly something else could come up, but it looks like this is not going to happen, and he is going to be now the thirty ninth, excuse me, fortieth fortieth. They'll have this right, he would be the fortieth. No, he's going to be the thirty ninth, not the forty yet. Jumping ahead, folks, but I assure you there is a
fortieth on the books. But this would be Boyd would be the thirty ninth person executed in the United States this year. This year, we've been talking about this a lot robes lately because this is the most executions we've seen in the United States since twenty fifteen fourteen or something like that. There's been an up to uptick, and Alabama has in part been a part of leading the way because they were the ones who right when states couldn't find methods that were safe and that were deemed
legal to execute, they started using this nitrogen gas. And this is now going to be the fifth Is it the sixth or is it the how many have that it might be the seventh, No, I got it right now. This will be the seventh execution they've carried out using nitrogen gas, which is a new and controversial, very controversial
method in roles we've seen in a few executions. Yeah, some things, at least from the witnesses who see these, think that maybe these men are going through a little more pain and discomfort than they should.
Absolutely, this has been deemed controversial by several several folks who say that there is real pain experienced by the inmate. For a prolonged period of time where there's gasping, and in particular, Anthony Boyd pointed out that he's asthmatic and that he is is going to suffer perhaps more than normal because of that.
Yeah, and here we are with him. He had again, he he originally, this is why he's going to be executed with this method against his wishes. When they decided to start giving an option for nitrogen gas to death row inmates, they had a thirty day window to pick your poison, if you will firing squad, hanging, or this nitrogen gas. He picked that initially, the thirty day window closed.
Then he said he learned more about the method. He didn't have enough information, and once he got more information, he was like, yeah, give me something else.
I mean, the fact that you would prefer to be hanged is incredible to me. It shows the level of fear you must have of the method they are suggesting be used, or that they are going to use. That. I can understand firing squad because you feel like it would go over, it would be over quickly, But hanging that sounds horrific. I mean, I can't even how.
Many still have hanging on the books. I wonder I didn't there were three or something that I had firing squad. We were kind of surprised by that three or four. But hanging is still on the book. Now, nitrogen gas, this is considered nitrogen hypoxia is this method, and it's a way essentially of you suffocating by them denying your body of oxygen. So they put a mask on you and instead of you breathing in air, breathable air, breathable oxygen,
it's just nitrogen coming in through that mask. What was that It was something about it was.
Like two minutes of gasping.
Well, yeah, there was someone described as having your insize like vacuu sealed or something. They just don't what that means, what that does to your cells being denied oxygen like that anyway, But that's the method, and it's been deemed legal, and they are using it in Alabama, and they're going to use it once again, it seems tomorrow Nightrope.
Yeah, and you mentioned this jury all those years ago voted ten to two for the death penalty. Alabama and Florida the only two states in this country where you can have a non unanimous jury vote or you just not be agreed upon unanimously to vote for death and yet still get the death like majority rules versus unanimous and yes, because that was surprising. And then of course Alabama and Florida the two states where that is allowed.
Well, that's not the only quirky thing going on in Alabama. Stay here, cann't explain a new rule. They have their regarding executions, which means that the next one that's going to be carried out, Yes, they could schedule it for a certain time, but they have folks a thirty hour window in which they can carry out the execution because they want to make sure they have enough time to kill this man.
Welcome back to this edition of Amy and TJ, where we are talking about fifty three year old Anthony Boyd. He is set to die by nitrogen gas in the state of Alabama at six pm on Thursday, that's tomorrow evening. However, there actually is a larger window in which he could be killed. When he gave that audio voice message to the governor, we listened to it and it was interesting because he said, I am Anthony Boyd. I'm scheduled to
die on October twenty third or October twenty four. He actually had to name both days because he could die on either day. Given this, we actually had to look it up. This rule, this allowance that the state of Alabama has created for themselves.
They were the only state when they put this rule in the place in just a couple of years ago. They were the only one. They might still be the only one, but they give themselves a thirty hour window. The Supreme Court there in the state allowed this because they had three botched executions in a row. Two of them they had to cancel because they couldn't find a
vein and couldn't get it done in time. The lethal injection and those death warrants have specific days on them, specific dates, so they started running up into midnight, and so they say, we can't do it. So they had to call off two executions, and then another execution went on and on and on and on. So what they've done robe is given themselves a window of time that if anything goes on at the schedule time at six pm, oh, we actually got until six o'clock the next morning to
finish the job. So they've given themselves starting at midnight tonight, they can execute him at midnight local time anytime for the next thirty hours. That's an incredible rule.
It's already unthinkable to imagine what goes through anyone's mind. And yes, I know he is convicted of having committed a horrific, heinous crime, but to know when you're going to die, but somehow it seems even more anxiety inducing to know there's a thirty hour window in which you could die, that it could take that long, or there could be that many complications, or just to imagine the reason behind the need to give it a thirty hour window would just mess with you even more.
They want to give themselves time, but they also like, hey, if somebody wants to come in and step in and there's a last minute something with the courts, you're allowing some more time for that and some more breathing rooms what they've given themselves. And so at midnight tonight they are on the clock and they have to execute him in this thirty hour window. As now the law and the death Warren says for mister Anthony Boyd Rose is
another fascinating case. We didn't expect to necessarily knew an execution was coming up, but we started doing a deeper dive into this case, and here we go once.
Again and just with his impassioned plea to the governor. It certainly just brought some humanity to a legal remedy to crime that we have in this country that is certainly controversial. But to hear the other side of it, to hear from the inmate directly, we don't often get to do that. Sometimes we try to wait for last words or some sort of statement, but this was highly unusual to hear. I've never heard anything quite like this where you actually heard from the inmate making this plea.
But it'll be interesting to hear if he has final words tomorrow evening as well.
That's always interesting to see. But folks, sorry about that. Sabinis called glad Folks. We will keep an eye on this one and we will do a follow up to see what actually does happen in Alabama over the next kind of forty eight hours. But in that thirty hour wind over from now, we always appreciate you hanging and spending some time with us. For now, I'm T. J. Holmes on behalf of Give Me Roll Back talkyoso
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