Alabama executes man with nitrogen gas for 1993 murder over $200 drug debt

The Rev. Jeff Hood speaks at a protest against the death penalty
The Rev. Jeff Hood speaks at a protest against the death penalty Photo by FMT licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Anthony Boyd, 54, was executed Thursday evening at Alabama’s William C. Holman Correctional Facility, officials confirmed. He was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m. after being put to death using nitrogen gas — a controversial method Alabama introduced last year.

Boyd was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Gregory Huguley in Talladega County. Prosecutors said Huguley was kidnapped and set on fire after failing to pay $200 for cocaine. A key witness, testifying in exchange for a plea deal, told jurors that Boyd tied Huguley’s feet before another man poured gasoline over him and lit him on fire. The jury convicted Boyd of capital murder during a kidnapping and voted 10–2 in favor of the death penalty.

Boyd maintained his innocence until the end, insisting he was at a party the night of the killing. “I didn’t kill anybody. I didn’t participate in any killing,” he said during an October 8 news conference held by supporters.

Imprisoned on death row since 1995, Boyd served as the chair of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, a group formed by inmates advocating against capital punishment.

Alabama’s nitrogen gas execution process involves strapping a mask over the inmate’s face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen, leading to death by oxygen deprivation. The method has now been used in eight executions nationwide — seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana.

Boyd’s attorneys sought a federal injunction to halt the execution, arguing the method should undergo further review. A federal judge denied the request, ruling that Boyd was unlikely to succeed on claims that nitrogen gas constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

The U.S. Supreme Court also rejected Boyd’s last-minute appeal to die by firing squad instead. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, issued a sharp dissent, warning that the use of nitrogen gas presents “mounting and unbroken evidence” of unconstitutional cruelty. She wrote that “allowing the nitrogen hypoxia experiment to continue” undermines the nation’s moral integrity.

Alabama officials have defended the method, claiming that the visible shaking and gasping during executions are involuntary reactions caused by oxygen loss, not signs of suffering.