A man who is scheduled to be executed later this month for a 1993 murder continues to maintain his innocence, saying on Wednesday, "I didn't kill anybody. I didn't participate in any killing."
Anthony Boyd, 53, has been on death row in Alabama for the last three decades. He was convicted in 1995 of capital murder and kidnapping in the death of George Huguley, and a jury voted 10-2 to recommend that he receive the death penalty.
Boyd spoke via phone Wednesday at a rally in Alabama that was organized by the nonprofit Execution Intervention Project, which advocates for people on death row.
"This is not just about me," Boyd said on speaker phone from the Alabama prison where he is being held. "This is about the injustice that's going on in this state. I'm a prime example of these crooked courts and the way they fight."
The rally took place in Talladega, where Boyd's family and other supporters unveiled a billboard along a highway that read: "Save Anthony Boyd."
"We're here because we want the people of Alabama to know that the death penalty is more complicated than just this game of calling people monsters, this game of just tossing people away and acting like people don't matter," said Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual adviser and the nonprofit's co-founder, who became a vocal activist against capital punishment after witnessing numerous executions.
Boyd was one of four men convicted in Huguley's murder, according to court filings. Prosecutors said in the filings that the men abducted Huguley and burned him to death after he failed to pay them $200 for cocaine.
One witness who testified against Boyd as part of a plea deal said at his trial that Boyd taped Huguley's feet while another man doused him in gasoline and set him on fire. But Boyd's lawyers insisted their client was innocent, introducing witnesses during the trial who testified that he had attended a birthday party the night Huguley was killed and slept at a hotel with his girlfriend.
While incarcerated, Boyd became the chair of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, an anti-death penalty group founded by death row inmates.
Boyd is scheduled to die by nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial and relatively new execution method. The lethal injection alternative is designed to cause asphyxiation as inmates are forced to inhale pure nitrogen, instead of breathable air, through a gas mask. Critics believe the procedure constitutes undue suffering, but the state has repeatedly insisted it's humane. Alabama tested the method for the first time on a condemned inmate last January.
Another man convicted in Huguley's murder was also condemned for the crime and is currently on death row.
Alabama has historically had the highest rate of death sentences per capita in the United States, as well as one of the highest execution rates.
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
