"Boyd's death marks the seventh time that Alabama has used nitrogen gas on death row inmates since January 2024. The method has been used instead of the intravenous lethal injection due to complications administering it and, more recently, in obtaining the cocktail of toxic drugs, according to the US-based Death Penalty Information Center. The use of nitrogen gas is particularly controversial because it can draw out the length of an execution."
"In her dissent, Sotomayor described nitrogen gas as a torturous suffocation compared with other methods. Boyd asks for the barest form of mercy: to die by firing squad, which would kill him in seconds, she wrote. The Constitution would grant him that grace. My colleagues do not. This Court thus turns its back on Boyd and on the Eighth Amendment's guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment."
Anthony Boyd, 54, was executed in Alabama using nitrogen gas for a 1993 murder in which a man was set on fire over a $200 drug debt. Boyd maintained his innocence, repeated that position in his final words, and said there could be no justice until the system changed. Alabama has used nitrogen gas seven times since January 2024 after complications with intravenous lethal injection and difficulty obtaining lethal-drug cocktails. Nitrogen hypoxia is controversial because it can prolong executions. Boyd appealed to be executed by firing squad, and the US Supreme Court rejected his Eighth Amendment challenge.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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