“Take out your phone, go to your clock app, and find the stopwatch,” began Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her opening dissent on October 23. She was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Click Start. You’ll see the seconds go by. Three seconds pass quickly. At 30 seconds, your mind may wander. A minute goes by, and you start to feel like this is taking ages. Two… three… The seconds keep ticking until it finally hits four minutes. Press Stop.”
This isn’t just some exercise; it reflects Sotomayor’s strong objections against executing Anthony Boyd using nitrogen gas. Boyd had been convicted and sentenced to death for “intentional murder during first-degree kidnapping,” as noted in court documents from 1997. He maintains his innocence.
“I didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t take part in the killing,” he stated during the time leading up to his execution.
Boyd was found guilty for his role in the 1993 murder of Gregory “New York” Huguely over a $200 cocaine dispute. According to the court records, Boyd taped Huguely’s legs while another person taped his hands and mouth before setting him on fire. One witness reported watching Huguely burn for 10 to 15 minutes until the fire finally went out, noting that Huguely rolled around during that time.
But back to Sotomayor’s dramatic portrayal. She evoked a troubling scenario: “Imagine suffocating, wanting to breathe, but you’re strapped down while nitrogen is pumped into your lungs. You know you’re going to die from this gas, but your body urges you to take a breath. That’s the fate awaiting Anthony Boyd tonight.”
It’s hard not to wonder whether Huguely experienced something similar, struggling for air as smoke filled his lungs and flames seared his skin. Sotomayor held that nitrogen execution can lead to “severe psychological suffering.”
“Boyd is only asking for a minimum of mercy: to avoid a suffocating death lasting up to four minutes, opting instead for a firing squad that kills instantly. The Constitution should grant him this reprieve, yet my colleagues do not agree. Thus, this court turns its back on Boyd and the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment,” Sotomayor argued.
The brutality of death by nitrogen asphyxiation is still debated. A 2024 paper claimed that nitrogen-oxygen deficiency is “essentially inhumane.” However, these views should be approached with caution, especially since the authors expressed a general opposition to state executions.
A 2019 review of scientific literature found that “under current jurisprudence, the use of nitrogen hypoxia is a viable execution method.” Meanwhile, concepts of “suicide pods” also use nitrogen gas for euthanasia, claiming that death by nitrogen is a peaceful way to leave this world.
We should seriously consider humane treatment in all cases. Yet, phrases about cruel and unusual punishment often seem to detract from authentic discussions about the morality of capital punishment. Executions, by any standard, are unpleasant; it’s hard to escape that fact.
Anthony Boyd, aged 54, was declared dead at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama at 6:33 p.m. His death was due to nitrogen asphyxiation.
