Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, say, it is Wednesday, October twenty second,
Speaker 1: and a man left a four minute voice message for
Speaker 1: the governor of Alabama, please don't execute me, And with that,
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. That's
Speaker 1: literally what he said, but it was more to it
Speaker 1: than that. This death row inmate in Alabama wants the
Speaker 1: governor to come see him before he's executed. And the
Speaker 1: clock is ticking.
Speaker 2: It certainly is. He is scheduled to die by nitrogen
Speaker 2: gas at six pm tomorrow, that's Thursday evening. And in
Speaker 2: this plea, he maintains his innocence, as he has for
Speaker 2: more than thirty years. He was convicted. He was among
Speaker 2: four people that were convicted in this kidnapping and murder
Speaker 2: of a man in nineteen ninety three in the state
Speaker 2: of Alabama. But again he has maintained his innocence and
Speaker 2: he is begging the governor of Alabama to sit down
Speaker 2: and talk with him, to look him in the eye.
Speaker 1: And the man's name is Anthony Todd Boyd. And folks,
Speaker 1: you have probably noticed here on our feed we have
Speaker 1: covered quite a bit of executions because frankly, there have
Speaker 1: been quite a bit in this country this year, we've
Speaker 1: been talking about that this is another and you could
Speaker 1: argue robes even though October has been a pretty busy month,
Speaker 1: if you will, in executions, there's some people who will
Speaker 1: roll their eyes and say they all say they're innocent.
Speaker 1: And I understand that. I think there's everybody in prison,
Speaker 1: a very few raising their hands and say yeah, I
Speaker 1: did it keep me in here. But there are some
Speaker 1: here that have raised some serious questions. This seems to
Speaker 1: be another.
Speaker 2: Yes, and it's not just one or two people saying this.
Speaker 2: The Death Penalty Information Center is a place we've actually
Speaker 2: used a source of information for a lot of these executions,
Speaker 2: but their latest headline published today, despite serious concerns about
Speaker 2: trials fairness and Anthony Boyd's innocence, Alabama plans to execute
Speaker 2: him using nitrogen gas. Yes, there are a lot of
Speaker 2: questions about his representation at the time and the fact
Speaker 2: that the only reason why or the only bit of
Speaker 2: evidence used against him was eyewitness testimony, which we all
Speaker 2: know is the least reliable. There was and is no
Speaker 2: there were no fingerprints, forensics, nothing. So when you really
Speaker 2: look at this case, when you're just obviously we're not
Speaker 2: legal experts here, but it does draw into question whether
Speaker 2: or not this man got a fair show.
Speaker 1: Well, there are several of these executions or guys that
Speaker 1: admitted guilt. There are several were there's not the innocence project.
Speaker 1: They are banging down the door saying this person's innocence.
Speaker 1: So no, there are some there aren't these questions, but
Speaker 1: there seem to be too many, and several lately where
Speaker 1: there are these questions. Even last week as we sit here,
Speaker 1: one execution was stayed because there are questions about the innocence,
Speaker 1: the guilty innocence of the man on death row that
Speaker 1: was in Texas, Robert Robert Robertson, Robert Robertson. So this
Speaker 1: does seem to be another and we're going to go
Speaker 1: back at least maybe not a name you all know.
Speaker 1: Anthony Todd Boyd is his name. He's fifty three at
Speaker 1: this point. But he is waiting at the William C.
Speaker 1: Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama. That is where they carry
Speaker 1: out their executions. He is waiting to die now. He
Speaker 1: is there, convicted, he's been on death row. When is
Speaker 1: that that thirty.
Speaker 2: Years robes from thirty plus years he.
Speaker 1: Was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of a man
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three. And he is again this is
Speaker 1: not just this late hour. He has always maintained his innocence.
Speaker 1: Now robes this crime is. I mean, it's pretty heinous
Speaker 1: to hear what did take place where this was in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three. Four men involved, Allegedly Boyd was one
Speaker 1: of them. I say allegedly because of the questions he has,
Speaker 1: but he has been convicted of it. He's not the
Speaker 1: one who he helped, if you will, in this murder.
Speaker 2: The eyewitness testimony that put him away said that something
Speaker 2: he helped bind the legs or at least hold his legs.
Speaker 2: But the victim in this case, Gregory Hughgelely, was kidnapped
Speaker 2: by four men and then burned alive. They literally, according
Speaker 2: to court records, through gasoline on him and set him
Speaker 2: on fire and watched him die. And apparently the motive
Speaker 2: was a two hundred dollars drug debt that was owed
Speaker 2: that this Gregory Hughley allegedly reportedly owed someone.
Speaker 1: So he ends up getting hauled in goes to trial.
Speaker 1: Now this case, the prosecution's case was very much dependent
Speaker 1: at the time on one of Boyd's co defendants who
Speaker 1: testified against him, and he got a better plea deal. Also,
Speaker 1: a trial came out. Look, there was, like you just mentioned,
Speaker 1: there was no physical evidence here. Even the state medical
Speaker 1: examiner said, we got no and to connect this guy
Speaker 1: to the crime. There were no fingerprints that match. But
Speaker 1: this trial went on for three days. Jury came back,
Speaker 1: he was convicted, and they voted ten to two for
Speaker 1: the death penalty. Now the problems robes here with the
Speaker 1: trial seemed to be he got terrible representation for a
Speaker 1: death penalty case.
Speaker 2: Yes, so he had a court appointed attorney who was
Speaker 2: paid a capped fee of one thousand dollars, and his attorney,
Speaker 2: before the trial even started, complained and said, I don't
Speaker 2: want this case. I can't take this on. This is
Speaker 2: basically pro bono work. And the judge said, too bad.
Speaker 2: You've got a month figure it out. A month to
Speaker 2: prepare a case where a man's life is on the line,
Speaker 2: a death penalty case. And so, according to several documents,
Speaker 2: he did not call witnesses to corroborate where Anthony Boyd
Speaker 2: said he was. He said he was at a birthday party.
Speaker 2: He said he wasn't with this group he had. He
Speaker 2: never looked at any of the prosecutorial witness sister talk
Speaker 2: to them ahead of time. Here was the other issue.
Speaker 2: The prosecutor in this case was his attorney's former boss.
Speaker 2: So Anthony Boyd's court appointed attorney, who only made a
Speaker 2: thousand bucks, who didn't want the case, had just left
Speaker 2: a job working for the man prosecuting him.
Speaker 1: Now, you don't have to be some legal scholar to
Speaker 1: hear that and go, well, that doesn't sound right. It
Speaker 1: doesn't That's not okay when somebody's life is on the line. Now,
Speaker 1: the representation they talked about him getting sounds atrocious. And
Speaker 1: even if you're trying to get off on a misdemeanor
Speaker 1: from stealing hub abubb a gum, you want better representation
Speaker 1: that this guy seemed to have. This seems to be
Speaker 1: a travesty when your own lawyer is saying out loud
Speaker 1: to the judge, I don't want to be here one
Speaker 1: thousand dollars of flat feet. How many hours do you
Speaker 1: put in as an attorney?
Speaker 2: Apparently he didn't put in many.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for a month for a death penalty case. So
Speaker 1: those are some of the issues and the questions that
Speaker 1: have come up. Look, he has been denied at every turn.
Speaker 1: Know that this is not just a last minute appeal
Speaker 1: where he's trying to get off death row. He's been
Speaker 1: at this for years and he has been shot down
Speaker 1: at every turn, and there is not a single court
Speaker 1: said okay, we'll take a look. And he gave him
Speaker 1: any hope that anything's going to be different in the next.
Speaker 2: Oh No, he turned away and turned down time after time.
Speaker 2: Even in October. There was a district judge. Did you
Speaker 2: I'm sure you read some of her very tough language,
Speaker 2: but she noted because he was trying to say he
Speaker 2: wanted to stay of execution because he did not want
Speaker 2: to die by nitrogen gas. He actually offered to die
Speaker 2: by hanging, die by firing squad, other than dying by
Speaker 2: nitrogen gas. But she basically just said you shouldn't expect
Speaker 2: not to be in pain, that this is what happens
Speaker 2: when you have a death sentence. You have physical pain
Speaker 2: and you have mental pain, and you're probably going to
Speaker 2: have both and that's the way it's going to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the way she put it, it's an experience which
Speaker 1: attends every execution and cannot be avoided. Okay, I mean
Speaker 1: she's yes, I agree, she is right about that. But
Speaker 1: but but Boyd has been trying at every turn the
Speaker 1: governor that they've already said, Look, we have seen nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing that exonerates this man. We see nothing that suggests
Speaker 1: he is not guilty of participating in a heinous crime. Again,
Speaker 1: a kidnapping, and a man was set on fire while
Speaker 1: he was alive. He was burned alive. That's an awful,
Speaker 1: awful crime. But to Boyd's I say credit. But it
Speaker 1: sounded as if as well, Rob you mentioned he said
Speaker 1: he was somewhere else. It sounded like he had a
Speaker 1: pretty solid alibi.
Speaker 2: He did. He and then he said he spent the
Speaker 2: night with his girlfriend, and he said he had witnesses
Speaker 2: who could absolutely corroborate his whereabouts and where he spent
Speaker 2: the night in the fact that he did not leave
Speaker 2: that party and he was not there on the scene.
Speaker 1: See again, there are plenty on the sign who say this.
Speaker 1: We've had thirty years to do this, You had thirty
Speaker 1: years to talk about this, and every quarter is taking
Speaker 1: a look at your case has said no. And here
Speaker 1: we are.
Speaker 2: I know we listened to this voice memo though this plea,
Speaker 2: this audio I haven't heard anything quite like that before
Speaker 2: this plea to the governor, where he starts by saying
Speaker 2: his name. He says, Hi, this is Anthony Boyd, the
Speaker 2: guy that you have scheduled an execution for. He says,
Speaker 2: I'm asking, extending offering, giving you an invitation to please
Speaker 2: come sit down and talk to me before this execution
Speaker 2: is carried out, before an innocent man is executed, come
Speaker 2: sit down with me and have a conversation with the
Speaker 2: guy that you deemed one of the worst of the worst, know,
Speaker 2: the guy that's innocent on Alabama's death row. He does
Speaker 2: not mince words.
Speaker 1: No. Look, it's a four minute plea and they played
Speaker 1: it at a press conference his spiritual advisor. And yes,
Speaker 1: that's what he's supposed to do. You're supposed to get
Speaker 1: out there in front of the public. You're supposed to
Speaker 1: make a public plea. It's supposed to pull people's heartstrings.
Speaker 1: It's supposed to bring attention, and it did, and it
Speaker 1: was four minutes long. The chances of that happening are
Speaker 1: pretty zero.
Speaker 2: They've already been shot down.
Speaker 1: But come sit down and talk to me, he said
Speaker 1: in there plenty of times, or at least on more
Speaker 1: than one occasion. When you sit down with me, if
Speaker 1: you feel if you look at me and you think
Speaker 1: I'm being deceptive, you think I'm being dishonest, go ahead,
Speaker 1: carry out the punishment. That was a interesting challenge. He
Speaker 1: was like, you come sit down with me, you'll be
Speaker 1: assured that I'm not guilty.
Speaker 2: That was interesting, It was effective for me. That's right,
Speaker 2: he said, Then please carry out the sentence. You're right.
Speaker 2: It was a challenge because he's that sure that he
Speaker 2: is so innocent that when she spoke with him, or
Speaker 2: if she's saw him and heard him.
Speaker 1: She would believe him.
Speaker 2: That's hard to imagine, but he actually felt like that
Speaker 2: was I mean, look, at this point, he doesn't have
Speaker 2: any options.
Speaker 1: No, at this point, I do not know if he
Speaker 1: has a single one. Somebody could have a change of heart,
Speaker 1: possibly something else could come up, but it looks like
Speaker 1: this is not going to happen, and he is going
Speaker 1: to be now the thirty ninth, excuse me, fortieth fortieth.
Speaker 1: They'll have this right, he would be the fortieth. No,
Speaker 1: he's going to be the thirty ninth, not the forty yet.
Speaker 1: Jumping ahead, folks, but I assure you there is a
Speaker 1: fortieth on the books. But this would be Boyd would
Speaker 1: be the thirty ninth person executed in the United States
Speaker 1: this year. This year, we've been talking about this a
Speaker 1: lot robes lately because this is the most executions we've
Speaker 1: seen in the United States since twenty fifteen fourteen or
Speaker 1: something like that. There's been an up to uptick, and
Speaker 1: Alabama has in part been a part of leading the
Speaker 1: way because they were the ones who right when states
Speaker 1: couldn't find methods that were safe and that were deemed
Speaker 1: legal to execute, they started using this nitrogen gas. And
Speaker 1: this is now going to be the fifth Is it
Speaker 1: the sixth or is it the how many have that
Speaker 1: it might be the seventh, No, I got it right now.
Speaker 1: This will be the seventh execution they've carried out using
Speaker 1: nitrogen gas, which is a new and controversial, very controversial
Speaker 1: method in roles we've seen in a few executions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: some things, at least from the witnesses who see these,
Speaker 1: think that maybe these men are going through a little
Speaker 1: more pain and discomfort than they should.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, this has been deemed controversial by several several folks
Speaker 2: who say that there is real pain experienced by the inmate.
Speaker 2: For a prolonged period of time where there's gasping, and
Speaker 2: in particular, Anthony Boyd pointed out that he's asthmatic and
Speaker 2: that he is is going to suffer perhaps more than
Speaker 2: normal because of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and here we are with him. He had again,
Speaker 1: he he originally, this is why he's going to be
Speaker 1: executed with this method against his wishes. When they decided
Speaker 1: to start giving an option for nitrogen gas to death
Speaker 1: row inmates, they had a thirty day window to pick
Speaker 1: your poison, if you will firing squad, hanging, or this
Speaker 1: nitrogen gas. He picked that initially, the thirty day window closed.
Speaker 1: Then he said he learned more about the method. He
Speaker 1: didn't have enough information, and once he got more information,
Speaker 1: he was like, yeah, give me something else.
Speaker 2: I mean, the fact that you would prefer to be
Speaker 2: hanged is incredible to me. It shows the level of
Speaker 2: fear you must have of the method they are suggesting
Speaker 2: be used, or that they are going to use. That.
Speaker 2: I can understand firing squad because you feel like it
Speaker 2: would go over, it would be over quickly, But hanging
Speaker 2: that sounds horrific. I mean, I can't even how.
Speaker 1: Many still have hanging on the books. I wonder I
Speaker 1: didn't there were three or something that I had firing squad.
Speaker 1: We were kind of surprised by that three or four.
Speaker 1: But hanging is still on the book. Now, nitrogen gas,
Speaker 1: this is considered nitrogen hypoxia is this method, and it's
Speaker 1: a way essentially of you suffocating by them denying your
Speaker 1: body of oxygen. So they put a mask on you
Speaker 1: and instead of you breathing in air, breathable air, breathable oxygen,
Speaker 1: it's just nitrogen coming in through that mask. What was
Speaker 1: that It was something about it was.
Speaker 2: Like two minutes of gasping.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, there was someone described as having your insize
Speaker 1: like vacuu sealed or something. They just don't what that means,
Speaker 1: what that does to your cells being denied oxygen like
Speaker 1: that anyway, But that's the method, and it's been deemed legal,
Speaker 1: and they are using it in Alabama, and they're going
Speaker 1: to use it once again, it seems tomorrow Nightrope.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you mentioned this jury all those years ago
Speaker 2: voted ten to two for the death penalty. Alabama and
Speaker 2: Florida the only two states in this country where you
Speaker 2: can have a non unanimous jury vote or you just
Speaker 2: not be agreed upon unanimously to vote for death and
Speaker 2: yet still get the death like majority rules versus unanimous
Speaker 2: and yes, because that was surprising. And then of course
Speaker 2: Alabama and Florida the two states where that is allowed.
Speaker 1: Well, that's not the only quirky thing going on in Alabama.
Speaker 1: Stay here, cann't explain a new rule. They have their
Speaker 1: regarding executions, which means that the next one that's going
Speaker 1: to be carried out, Yes, they could schedule it for
Speaker 1: a certain time, but they have folks a thirty hour
Speaker 1: window in which they can carry out the execution because
Speaker 1: they want to make sure they have enough time to
Speaker 1: kill this man.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to this edition of Amy and TJ, where
Speaker 2: we are talking about fifty three year old Anthony Boyd.
Speaker 2: He is set to die by nitrogen gas in the
Speaker 2: state of Alabama at six pm on Thursday, that's tomorrow evening. However,
Speaker 2: there actually is a larger window in which he could
Speaker 2: be killed. When he gave that audio voice message to
Speaker 2: the governor, we listened to it and it was interesting
Speaker 2: because he said, I am Anthony Boyd. I'm scheduled to
Speaker 2: die on October twenty third or October twenty four. He
Speaker 2: actually had to name both days because he could die
Speaker 2: on either day. Given this, we actually had to look
Speaker 2: it up. This rule, this allowance that the state of
Speaker 2: Alabama has created for themselves.
Speaker 1: They were the only state when they put this rule
Speaker 1: in the place in just a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: They were the only one. They might still be the
Speaker 1: only one, but they give themselves a thirty hour window.
Speaker 1: The Supreme Court there in the state allowed this because
Speaker 1: they had three botched executions in a row. Two of
Speaker 1: them they had to cancel because they couldn't find a
Speaker 1: vein and couldn't get it done in time. The lethal
Speaker 1: injection and those death warrants have specific days on them,
Speaker 1: specific dates, so they started running up into midnight, and
Speaker 1: so they say, we can't do it. So they had
Speaker 1: to call off two executions, and then another execution went
Speaker 1: on and on and on and on. So what they've
Speaker 1: done robe is given themselves a window of time that
Speaker 1: if anything goes on at the schedule time at six pm, oh,
Speaker 1: we actually got until six o'clock the next morning to
Speaker 1: finish the job. So they've given themselves starting at midnight tonight,
Speaker 1: they can execute him at midnight local time anytime for
Speaker 1: the next thirty hours. That's an incredible rule.
Speaker 2: It's already unthinkable to imagine what goes through anyone's mind.
Speaker 2: And yes, I know he is convicted of having committed
Speaker 2: a horrific, heinous crime, but to know when you're going
Speaker 2: to die, but somehow it seems even more anxiety inducing
Speaker 2: to know there's a thirty hour window in which you
Speaker 2: could die, that it could take that long, or there
Speaker 2: could be that many complications, or just to imagine the
Speaker 2: reason behind the need to give it a thirty hour
Speaker 2: window would just mess with you even more.
Speaker 1: They want to give themselves time, but they also like, hey,
Speaker 1: if somebody wants to come in and step in and
Speaker 1: there's a last minute something with the courts, you're allowing
Speaker 1: some more time for that and some more breathing rooms
Speaker 1: what they've given themselves. And so at midnight tonight they
Speaker 1: are on the clock and they have to execute him
Speaker 1: in this thirty hour window. As now the law and
Speaker 1: the death Warren says for mister Anthony Boyd Rose is
Speaker 1: another fascinating case. We didn't expect to necessarily knew an
Speaker 1: execution was coming up, but we started doing a deeper
Speaker 1: dive into this case, and here we go once.
Speaker 2: Again and just with his impassioned plea to the governor.
Speaker 2: It certainly just brought some humanity to a legal remedy
Speaker 2: to crime that we have in this country that is
Speaker 2: certainly controversial. But to hear the other side of it,
Speaker 2: to hear from the inmate directly, we don't often get
Speaker 2: to do that. Sometimes we try to wait for last
Speaker 2: words or some sort of statement, but this was highly
Speaker 2: unusual to hear. I've never heard anything quite like this
Speaker 2: where you actually heard from the inmate making this plea.
Speaker 2: But it'll be interesting to hear if he has final
Speaker 2: words tomorrow evening as well.
Speaker 1: That's always interesting to see. But folks, sorry about that.
Speaker 1: Sabinis called glad Folks. We will keep an eye on
Speaker 1: this one and we will do a follow up to
Speaker 1: see what actually does happen in Alabama over the next
Speaker 1: kind of forty eight hours. But in that thirty hour
Speaker 1: wind over from now, we always appreciate you hanging and
Speaker 1: spending some time with us. For now, I'm T. J.
Speaker 1: Holmes on behalf of Give Me Roll Back talkyoso
Speaker 2: H m