Alabama man set for execution urges meeting with governor to argue innocence

An Alabama death row inmate, who insists he is an “innocent man,” asked Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to meet with him before the state puts him to death later this week.

Anthony Boyd, 53, is scheduled to be executed on Thursday evening by nitrogen gas at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility for capital murder in the 1993 burning death of Gregory Huguley.

Boyd, who has maintained his innocence, made the request to meet with the governor in a recorded message played during a news conference hosted by the Execution Intervention Project and his spiritual adviser, Rev. Jeff Hood.

“Before an innocent man is executed, come sit down with me and have a conversation with the guy you deemed one of the worst of the worst,” Boyd said.

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However, Boyd said if Ivey believes he is being deceptive or evasive during their meeting, “then please carry out the sentence.”

“If not, then I ask you to stay this execution, to stop this execution, to have my case fully and fairly investigated,” Boyd said.

A spokesman for Ivey, Mike Lewis, said the governor personally reviews each case in which an execution has been scheduled.

“At this point, however, we have not seen any recent court filings disputing Mr. Boyd’s guilt in the horrific, burning-alive murder of Gregory Huguley. Nor have we received a clemency submission to such an effect,” Lewis said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Lewis noted that the governor’s review of execution cases does not include one-on-one meetings with inmates, describing Boyd’s abnormal request as “especially unworkable.”

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Ivey has only stopped one execution since she took office in 2017.

Huguley’s body was found burned on Aug. 1, 1993, in a rural Talladega County ball field. Prosecutors said Boyd was one of four men who kidnapped Huguley the previous day.

A witness for the prosecution testified at the trial as part of a plea agreement, saying that Boyd taped Huguley’s feet together before another man poured gasoline on him and lit him on fire.

Prosecutors said Huguley was burned alive over a $200 drug debt.

Though Boyd’s attorneys contended that he was attending a party when the crime was carried out, a jury voted 10-2 to convict him of capital murder during a kidnapping. They recommended that he be sentenced to death.

Boyd is set to die by nitrogen gas, a controversial method Alabama began using last year when convicted killer Kenneth Smith was executed in January 2024.

Attorneys for Boyd have called on the federal courts to block the execution to scrutinize the new method, a request a federal judge denied.

On Monday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by Boyd’s attorneys to stay the execution.

Shawn Ingram, the man accused of pouring gasoline on Huguley and setting him on fire, was also convicted of capital murder and remains on death row in Alabama.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.