New billboard draws attention to Anthony Boyd, Alabama’s next nitrogen gas execution

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Nestled near some trees alongside a busy roadway in Montgomery, a stark black-and-white billboard looms over a parking lot. It says “Save Anthony Boyd,” referencing the 54-year-old Alabama man who could be executed later this month.

It’s part of a new campaign aiming to call attention to Boyd’s case, in which death penalty opponents are in the position of fighting to spare the life of one of their own.

“That’s why we put this billboard up. We want people to drive by, to think, you know, who is Anthony Boyd?” said Rev. Jeff Hood, Boyd’s spiritual advisor and founder of the Execution Intervention Project.

Speaking at a news conference the morning after Alabama’s last execution and a later phone interview, Hood said the billboard aims to serve as a physical reminder that they are not giving up on him, while creating curiosity — even viral interest — in Boyd’s case.

“If [the state is] going to kill people, at least have the decency to know who they are. At least have the decency to know their names,” he said.

This is the group’s first billboard campaign opposing an execution in Alabama, Hood said. They have tried the move with digital billboards in other states. The initiative is reminiscent of at least one other campaign supporting a person on death row in Alabama: Toforest Johnson.

Boyd was convicted in a Talladega County case with three codefendants involving the 1993 murder of Gregory Huguley, who was burned to death because he had not made a $200 payment for cocaine, court documents say.

Boyd is expected to be executed by nitrogen gas during a window that begins Oct. 23, according to a release from the governor’s office.

But like his supporters who installed the billboard, Boyd, too, is an advocate.

At William C. Holman Correctional Facility since 1995, he’s the chairman of a group of people on death row: Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty. The group meets, discusses legal issues and puts out a newsletter, pushing for death penalty abolition from the inside.

Its executive director, Esther Brown, helps from outside prison and has a close relationship with Boyd.

“One of the many things I love about him is that he takes care of people,” she said. “You don’t have to be part of the organization. He sees a need, and he will reach out.”

She says Boyd is the fifth chairman she’s worked with, three of whom were executed. If Boyd is put to death, his absence will be felt by the organization.

The group will “do our best to continue, but it will be a huge loss. There’s no doubt about that,” she said.

From prison, Boyd said he’s chaired the death penalty group’s board for about seven years. He isn’t just fighting for himself, but “my guys” around him, and hopes people driving past the billboard don’t just think about him.

“You [are] driving on a highway in a state that is gassing its citizens to death. I want them to see that sign, those billboards, and think about that,” he said.

In a statement, a spokesperson from the Alabama attorney general’s office said “There was no billboard campaign to save” the victim, Huguley.

“Boyd showed no concern for the ethics of execution when he helped murder Huguley. Only now that he has been sentenced to death for his horrific crime does Boyd protest that the State has no right to take a life — specifically his,” the spokesperson said.

Hood said Boyd has said he did not commit this crime and “there is evidence that points in that direction,” though his support does not hinge on that. The attorney general’s spokesperson said, despite litigation, Boyd has “yet to provide evidence to show the jury got it wrong.”

As the possible execution approaches, Boyd, who often goes by “Ant,” has pending challenges in court. (The Gulf States Newsroom was subpoenaed to testify in a case, but did not participate.) He said he will continue to fight.

“I’m not just going to sit in my cell with my head down and just wait for them to come move me — no,” he said.

In his view, the death penalty serves no purpose: it doesn’t bring closure to families nor deter crime.

“You can’t have vengeance and justice in the same breath,” he said.

Another billboard supporting Boyd is expected to go up in Talladega.

This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.