US executes 1 000th inmate
2005-12-02 09:39
Raleigh - The US on Friday executed the 1 000th person since capital punishment was reintroduced in 1976, when Kenneth Boyd was given a lethal injection at a North Carolina jail, authorities said.
"Warden Marvin Polk pronounced Boyd dead at 02:15" (07:15 GMT)," the North Carolina department of correction said in a statement.
Last minute appeals for clemency were rejected by US courts and North Carolina's governor.
Boyd, 57, was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1994 for the murders six years earlier of his estranged wife and father-in-law.
The Supreme Court allowed the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976 following a 10-year moratorium.
Since then, 832 death row inmates have been killed by lethal injection, 152 through electrocution, 11 in a gas chamber, three by hanging and two were shot by firing squad.
The death penalty is legal in 38 of the 50 US states.
- AFP