Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, was put to death by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, was put to death by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh.
A jury sentenced Boyd to death in 1994 for killing his wife, Julie Curry Boyd, and father-in-law, Thomas Dillard Curry in 1988. 2 of the victims' relatives planned to watch as prison officials injected a series of lethal drugs into Boyd's veins.
As the 2 a.m. death hour approached, hundreds of death penalty opponents protested outside the prison and about 20 were arrested. National leaders in the anti-death penalty movement spoke to the crowd. Reporters from international wire services and local television stations alike were on hand.
On Thursday, Boyd visited all day with one of his sons. At 5 p.m., he ate his last meal: a medium-well New York strip steak, a baked potato with sour cream, a roll with butter, a salad with ranch dressing and a Pepsi. At close to 6 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Boyd's last legal appeals based on claims of juror misconduct and bias.
At 10 p.m. Thursday, Gov. Mike Easley denied Boyd's request for clemency. "I find no compelling reason to grant clemency and overturn the unanimous jury verdicts affirmed by the state and federal courts," Easley said in a statement.
At 11:27 p.m., about 20 protesters tried to get to the prison to stop the execution. The group dashed past the line of officers standing guard at the top of the prison's driveway. A few got as far as 15 feet down the driveway. As police stopped them, other protesters clapped, cheered and sang "We Shall Overcome."
Police soon handcuffed the arrestees and loaded them into a bus for the ride to the Wake County jail.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional, ruling that states meted out the punishment arbitrarily. 4 years later, the court validated several states' rewritten death penalty laws.
Executions resumed in January 1977 when a Utah firing squad killed Gary Gilmore. North Carolina's first execution was in 1984, when James W. Hutchins died for killing three law officers.
Almost 1,500 people died at the hands of the inmates executed during the past 28 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Boyd becomes the 5th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in North Carolina and the 56th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1000th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.