1,000th execution could be Vietnam vet

[Advisor]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/01/ex....ap/index.html

Killer: 'I'd hate to be remembered for that'

Thursday, December 1, 2005; Posted: 8:06 a.m. EST (13:06 GMT)

Kenneth Boyd, 57, is scheduled to be executed Friday for the murders of his estranged wife and her father.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- A killer on North Carolina's death row worries about becoming a macabre footnote to history -- the 1,000th person executed in the U.S. since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.[/b]

"I'd hate to be remembered as that," 57-year-old Kenneth Lee Boyd told The Associated Press in a prison interview. "I don't like the idea of being picked as a number."

But with no doubt of Boyd's guilt in the shooting deaths of his estranged wife and her father in 1988, it appeared unlikely the courts or Gov. Mike Easley would stop the execution, set for 2 a.m. Friday by lethal injection.

In Virginia, Gov. Mark Warner spared the life Tuesday of Robin Lovitt, who was set to be No. 1,000 for stabbing a man to death with a pair of scissors during a pool-hall robbery. The governor said that key evidence -- namely the bloody scissors -- had been improperly destroyed, preventing the defense from subjecting it to the latest in DNA testing.

A similar incident led Easley to grant clemency to a death row inmate in 2002, and he did it one other time, in 2001, when defense attorneys argued the jury was racially biased against their client, a black man convicted of killing the husband of a white woman with whom he had been having an affair.

In all, 22 killers have been put to death during Easley's nearly five years as governor. Boyd would be the 39th inmate executed in North Carolina since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume.

A spokeswoman for Easley said only that he will treat Boyd's case like others he has considered.

In a prison interview, Boyd did not deny shooting Julie Curry Boyd and her father, Thomas Dillard Curry. The Boyds were separated at the time, and Julie Boyd was living with her father. Boyd suspected his wife was having an affair.

Boyd said he was drinking the night of the murders.

"I remember sitting in my house, nobody there," he said. "I blinked my eyes and I'd done shot my father-in-law. When they told me how many times I shot her, I couldn't believe it." He added: "It's just a thing that happened, just snapped."

In his clemency petition, Boyd's attorneys argued his experiences in Vietnam -- where as a bulldozer operator he was shot at by snipers daily -- contributed to his crimes. He began drinking while overseas.

Boyd called the death penalty "nothing but revenge."

Defense attorney Thomas Maher said he hoped the attention of the 1,000th execution would lead Easley to grant clemency.

Unlike Warner, who is considered a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, Easley -- a popular Democratic governor who is barred by law from seeking a third term -- has no apparent political ambitions beyond his current job.

"The unpopular decision would likely be to stay the execution," said Wake Forest University political science professor John Dinan. But even if he did so, given the governor's high approval ratings, "there's no reason to expect any political repercussions or harm."

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Saw this story posted on CNN. I thought that this crap had stopped. I sent an Email to CNN raising a little hell (politely) about this stereotyping. I am sick of it.

[SparrowHawk62]

Seems like this was just another Vet who slipped through the systems fingers. Wonder if he had sought any help with his PTSD and Drinking before he killed these two folks?
Damned sorry thing he will only now be remembered as a Vietnam Veteran, "number 1000".

[PHO127]

anything to do with it, I doubt that he had PTSD. Just because you served in VN dosen't mean you have PTSD. And I seriously doubt bulldozer operators were shot at by snipers daily or he wouldn't be here. One of them would have had to get a lucky shot.

Try blaming alcohol.

[Advisor]

What really burns me is that 30 years after the shooting stopped the media is still on this crazed Viet Nam vet, loser, criminal, victim kick. I thought that bs went away. It will be interesting to see if the veteran as victim, loser, nutzoid criminalcrowd will do the same crap to current vets.

[Andy]

Men operating Rome Plows in the Hobo's or in the Triangle wasn't a very save job. As far as getting shot at every day, well would you really expect a defense attorney to tell the truth? I do agree with you. Booze and an unfaithful wife sounds like the reasons for the murder, not PTSD. If this guy had a history of PTSD related problems you can bet your butt his lawyer would have been all over that.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[PHO127]

Advisor I agree with you on the crazed VN Vet thing, I fired off email to FOX and CNN over the Washington DC sniper when it was brought up that it may be a VN Vet.

Andy I been around those Rome ploughs and it wasn't safe, but more like an RPG or mine than sniper fire which is why I think the PTSD thing was not applicable. Probably what the guy told his lawyer which means he didn't get shot at much at all. This guys defense lawyer must have been pretty inept not to have jumped on PTSD.

Generally though I think the VA does a pretty good job once they get you in their fold. There is a lot of room for improvement but I think they do a good job with what they have. I have been having a lot of trouble with my eyes the last year due to AO and diabetes and they have gone overboard for me. I am now going to the eye clinic at Emory University for them to see what they can do. One thing they do not do is go search you out for care, You have to go to them

[Packo]

PTSD is no excuse for 1st degree murder. I don't care if he was Audie freekin' Murphy, it's not a defense. As much as we'd like to believe all our bro's are good guys.....some just are scum. I also agree that I thought the "crazed Vietnam Vet" thing was water over the dam....but news organizations just don't give a shit. Sensationalize everything.

Pack

[DMZ-LT]

He was executed last night.

[Bill Farnie]

As far as the crazed Vietnam Vet, in the news article posted it says his attorney brought it up so therefore the press just quoted him. I agree that just because you are a VN Vet it doesn?t mean you?re a good guy. There are a couple of men from my old company who I think are just plain jerks ?.. they were in country and they are now.

I doubt that he was shot at daily by snipers but in the Ruong Ruong Valley, the 326th Combat Engineers of the 101st got off their equipment and fought right along side us in April 69?.

I guess it doesn?t matter now what he did or went through in VN. He?s dead now so may he RIP

[Seascamp]

Had some of those bad boys as well. Self-named ?Ace and Speedy? were apparently Stars in their own ?C? movie and didn?t pay attention to nothin or nobody except their own script.

Went off-line and up to Hong Kong for a few days R&R and the BCC Hong Kong Officials gave fair warning, in essence, ?don?t mess with us?. Ace and Speedy figured their movie script was exempt from the rules, rolled a cabbie, pushed the cab and cabbie off Victoria Peak but forgot to take their laundry package out of the cab. So there it was, ship?s patch, name and service number. The BCC Police came and got them, off to prison they went and didn?t survive six months before they were both cut to bits by Chinese prison inmates. Sad story but I don?t recall anyone feeling all that bad for them. Upon arrest and immediate conviction, they both got a dishonorable discharge so they were flushed from the get go. Per Captain Jack Sparrow, ?Those who fall behind, stay behind, tiz the Pirate?s code?, or something like that.

Scamp