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Lauren Gill

@laurengill.bsky.social
6K followers 168 following 81 posts

writing about criminal justice and voting rights @bolts.bsky.social lgill@boltsmag.org. Signal: lgill.52

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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
❗SCOTUS ruled today a defendant can't just waive away their rights to an appeal if that'd be a miscarriage of justice. Gorsuch wrote a concurrence saying: If we don't limit this, prosecutors will keep pushing their luck. And he cited Bolts' article on waivers in Virginia to show how far they go:
If a defendant may prospectively waive the right to appeal his sentence, too, one might wonder what’s to stop
prosecutors from pushing their luck further yet. Might we
eventually face plea agreements that include prospective
waivers of the defendant’s right to complain about future
unreasonable searches and seizures of his home? See L.
Gill, Virginia Governor Vetoes a Ban on Plea Deals that
Waive People’s Constitutional Rights, Bolts (Apr. 14, 2026),
https://perma.cc/3FL2-LBNB.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
In Roxbury, NJ, local leaders are fighting ICE's plan to convert a warehouse into an immigrant detention center while still voicing support for ICE. I wrote about the situation there, and how advocates across the U.S. are using environmental regulations to stop construction.
boltsmag.org
ICE Bought a Warehouse in a Conservative New Jersey Town. Locals Are Now Fighting Back. - Bolts
Roxbury is pushing back on plans for a new detention facility, claiming DHS is violating environmental regulations. Other towns nationwide are making similar arguments.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
NEW: We want to hear from you at Bolts. SCOTUS just dealt a major blow to the VRA, though lot of questions remain on what states and courts (can) do. So: what are you wondering about? Let us know here and our team will answer with help from election law experts!: boltsmag.org/scotus-calla...
boltsmag.org
"The Demolition of the Voting Rights Act": Send Us Your Questions - Bolts
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a decision in Callais vs. Louisiana that even further weakens the landmark Voting Rights Act—to a point where experts warn that the cornerstone... Read More
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
In a surprise move, VA Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed a bill that would have stopped prosecutors from asking people to waive their 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable searches & seizures in plea deals. This commonly happens in some counties. More here: boltsmag.org/virginia-fou...
boltsmag.org
Virginia Governor Vetoes a Ban on Plea Deals That Waive People's Constitutional Rights - Bolts
Abigail Spanberger blocked a bill to bar prosecutors from pressuring Virginians to waive protections against unreasonable police searches as a condition of pleas.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Yesterday New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a trio of bills protecting the state's immigrants. New Jersey is now the 10th state (and 4th in the past year) to pass legislation outlawing local law enforcement partnerships with ICE via the 287(g) program. boltsmag.org/new-jersey-i...
boltsmag.org
New Jersey Becomes the 10th State with a Law Barring Local ICE Contracts - Bolts
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill on Wednesday signed legislation banning local law enforcement agencies from partnering with federal immigration authorities, making it the 10th state to adopt laws t...
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Lee Hedgepeth @leehedgepeth.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
The day before Alabama had been scheduled to suffocate him, I sat down with Sonny Burton inside Holman Correctional Facility, where death row is housed. Take a moment to read and share what he had to say. Full story: www.treadbylee.com/p/sonny
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸 @elizabethweill.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Willie Cunningham was detained at York County Prison when he began to experience excruciating abdominal pain. A nurse told him he had heartburn. It was appendicitis. “I believed in these people,” he told me. “I didn’t know I was dying.” theappeal.org/york-county-...
theappeal.org
He Almost Died From A Burst Appendix. A For-Profit Jail Medical Provider Dismissed It As Heartburn.
A new lawsuit in York County, Pennsylvania, highlights a pattern of allegations of medical neglect by for-profit correctional healthcare company PrimeCare.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
this local election i posted about here is happening in 48 hours. this one is less interesting for what the outcome will be (it's a Trump +50 district) than the fascinating rhetoric of the campaign (see below), but i'm still very interested in seeing how it ends up.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Before Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders announced a megaprison a mile from his house, Colt Shelby hadn’t voted in 15 years. Now he says he won't miss another election. Ahead of Tuesday's special election, I took a look at how incarceration has become the race's biggest issue in a deeply red district.
boltsmag.org
Opposition to Mega Prison Project Shapes a Local Election in Rural Arkansas - Bolts
Incarceration has become a central issue in Western Arkansas, where the governor wants to build a new prison that has angered and mobilized residents.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
In Jan, the Iowa Supreme Court said prosecutors could no longer make defendants pay court costs in exchange for dismissals. Now prosecutors are backing legislation to bring back that practice & it could leave poor Iowans with debt that could haunt them for decades. boltsmag.org/iowa-court-f...
boltsmag.org
In Iowa, Prosecutors Want to Bring Back Court Fees as Bargaining Chips - Bolts
Iowa's high court recently ended the practice of making defendants pay fees for charges that get dismissed. Prosecutors are backing legislation to undo the court’s ruling so they can keep using fees a...
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸 @elizabethweill.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
@ethanscorey.bsky.social and I have published a database of congressmembers who received donations from ICE profiteers GEO Group, CoreCivic, and Management and Training Corporation. Look up your reps at @inthesetimes.com + @theappeal.org. inthesetimes.com/article/ice-....
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
He will be doing whatever he can to be in his boys' lives!
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
That's wild! Crazy how we can find these things out
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
The sweet little rescue dog in question :
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Just got a notification via doggie DNA testing that my sweet little rescue dog Sandy — adopted last year after he was displaced by the LA wildfires — is a FATHER to two boys: DaVinci and Hank. I may never recover.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Victoria Law @victorialaw.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
My latest for @boltsmag.org examines efforts to pass the MA Survivors Act, allowing abuse survivors to petition for resentencing (& release) or avoid lengthy/life prison sentences: boltsmag.org/massachusett...
boltsmag.org
Massachusetts Could Be the Next State to Give Abuse Survivors a Pathway Out of Prison - Bolts
The Massachusetts Survivors Act emulates recent resentencing reforms across the country that allow for reduced sentences for people with convictions related to their abuse.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
In one of his final moves before leaving office today, NJ Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed bills aimed at protecting immigrants out of fear it would invite legal challenges from the Trump admin. Immigrant advocates decried the decision: "ICE is already here, kidnapping people." boltsmag.org/new-jersey-g...
boltsmag.org
On His Way Out, New Jersey Governor Vetoes Legislation to Bar Local Assistance to ICE - Bolts
Phil Murphy killed a bill that'd have codified in law restrictions on how sheriffs and police can partner with ICE. Some restrictions remain in place, for now, via an attorney general directive.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
The ruling allows Florida to continue with the lowest standard for the death penalty in the nation, requiring just 8 out of 12 jurors to agree on death.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Piper French @psfrench.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
The Massey Commission was established after Sonya Massey was killed by a sheriff's deputy in her own home. I followed along for 9 months as its members tried to enact real policing & mental health reforms – & grappled w/ the limits of these commissions to effect change: boltsmag.org/sonya-massey...
boltsmag.org
A Police Killing Drew National Protests. At Home, a Commission Struggles with How to Make a Difference.  - Bolts
Part I: “I’m going to still try” On July 6, 2024, the morning after Sonya Massey was murdered by a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, a local citizen journalist named Calvin... Read More
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Congrats!
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Russ The Tedious Ghost @russ41.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
You can help Bolts continue to provide crucial coverage of local elections. Here's how: - Repost this = I donate $1. - Follow @boltsmag.org = I donate $1. - Donate (link below) + tell me how much = I match your donation. (Donate monthly = I match a year's worth)
boltsmag.org
Support Bolts
We are a nonprofit publication that covers the nuts and bolts of political change, from the local up, and we need reader support to build our journalism.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Why does my dog look like he’s about to deliver a lecture on 17th century literature lol
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Michael Barajas @michaelbarajas.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
NC prison officials say “shifting economic conditions” forced them to raise their markup on basic goods like food, drinks, batteries to run radios, etc Phill Smith, who’s incarcerated there, reports on the impact of the price hike and how prisons squeeze revenue from those who can least afford it
boltsmag.org
North Carolina Prison Officials Raise Prices for Those Who Can Least Afford It - Bolts
It’s 4:30 pm on a Monday as Colell Steele stands in front of the closed canteen window at Neuse Correctional, a medium-custody prison in North Carolina. He’s lined up to... Read More
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
After Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men on federal death row last year, the Trump administration is retaliating by sending them to the supermax. Prisoners are locked in cells smaller than a parking space 22-24 hours a day. One prisoner told me he fears he won't make it out alive. My latest:
boltsmag.org
Death Row Prisoners Granted Clemency by Biden Brace for "Living Hell" Under Trump - Bolts
Trump officials are retaliating by imposing the harshest conditions in the entire federal prison system, including near total isolation.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸 @elizabethweill.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Over 20 years ago, Robert Roberson was convicted based on the debunked Shaken Baby Syndrome hypothesis and sentenced to death. Now, the lead detective on his case, Brian Wharton, is fighting to save his life. New for @thenation.com. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
Texas Almost Executed a Man Based on “Junk Science.” His Ordeal Isn’t Over.
Robert Roberson, who was nearly killed due to the discredited “shaken baby syndrome” theory, is still at risk.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Jessica Schulberg @jessicaschulberg.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
BREAKING: Tremane Wood, who was moments away from being executed for a killing his brother admitted to committing, received a last minute clemency grant from Gov. Kevin Stitt www.huffpost.com/entry/treman...
huffpost.com
Tremane Wood Spared From Execution In Shocking Decision
His case marks only the second time Gov. Kevin Stitt has commuted a death sentence since entering office in 2019.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Incoming NJ governor Mikie Sherrill hasn't said whether she'll uphold a state policy limiting law enforcement cooperation w/ ICE. Advocates say lawmakers must pass legislation to preserve & expand protections for NJ's 2.2 million immigrants before she takes office. boltsmag.org/immigration-...
boltsmag.org
Immigration Protections Are Uncertain in New Jersey even as Democrats Keep Governorship - Bolts
Advocates want to promptly codify the limits on immigration enforcement put in place by the outgoing governor. Mikie Sherill, Tuesday’s winner, has declined to say if she'd continue them.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
"At 5:50, correctional officers opened the curtains of the death chamber to begin the state’s grim orchestration. Before those curtains would close about 37 minutes later, Boyd would gasp for air inside the gas mask more than 225 times." www.treadbylee.com/p/after-just...
treadbylee.com
After justices warned of prolonged suffocation, Alabama subjected Anthony Boyd to the longest nitrogen execution in U.S. history.
Boyd was the chairman of Project Hope, a death row-led nonprofit. Its members are left reeling in the wake of their leader's suffocation execution.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Justice Sotomayor with a graphic dissent as the Supreme Court allows Alabama to move forward with the execution of Anthony Boyd by lethal gas:
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Lee Hedgepeth @leehedgepeth.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
This evening, I will serve as a witness to the nitrogen gas execution of Anthony Boyd, should it move forward. Take a moment to read this story about his legacy on death row. If the state executes Boyd, an eyewitness account will be added to this piece. www.treadbylee.com/p/hope-in-th...
treadbylee.com
Hope in the House of Death
Alabama is scheduled to attempt the gas execution of Anthony Boyd. Those living on the state's death row find it hard to anticipate the loss of one of their longtime leaders.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Alabama plans to execute Boyd with nitrogen gas tomorrow, an experimental method that involves suffocating prisoners to death. “There’s nothing you can do to prepare for something like that,” Boyd told me. “You can’t prepare a person for drowning.” For more: boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
boltsmag.org
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
In the years since, Boyd has challenged his conviction in the courts but no court has granted him a hearing to present evidence his post conviction lawyers have uncovered they say proves Boyd's innocence.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
At the end of the three day trial, Boyd was sentenced to death by a vote of 10–2. Alabama and Florida are the only two states in the country that can send someone to death row even when all jurors don’t agree.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Unable to afford a lawyer, Boyd was represented by a court appointed attorney who was paid $1,000 for the case, and had worked for the prosecutor for 4 years. He was ill-prepared and forgot to call witnesses who were supposed to testify to Boyd’s alibi. He also failed to call a forensic expert.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
The state’s medical examiner testified that Huguley had been burned alive. Asked whether there was anything in his findings linking Boyd to Huguley’s murder, the ME answered, “No, sir.”
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
The only witness to testify about Huguley’s death was Boyd’s co-defendant, Quintay Cox. Cox had tried to back out of the plea deal but changed his mind under threat of the electric chair. On the stand, Cox admitted to changing his story once he got the deal.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
“One of them was on probation, and I think we got his probation officer to find him for us,” the lead investigator told me. “I mean, none of them just jumped up.” Their stories clashed; they couldn't agree on basic details and their testimony at times contradicted the facts prosecutors laid out.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
When I looked closer at Boyd’s case, I was unnerved to find that he was convicted entirely on eyewitness testimony. There was no physical evidence connecting him to the killing so prosecutors relied on witnesses who were said to have been picked up at an illegal dice game.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Boyd was convicted under Alabama’s felony murder law, which allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against so called accomplices, even if they didn’t kill anyone. In Boyd’s case, prosecutors agreed that he didn’t light the match that killed Huguley.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Huguley’s badly burned body was found in August 1993. A month later, police arrested Boyd and three co-defendants for the crime. Of the four, two were sentenced to death. One got life without parole. And another, who took a plea deal to testify against them, was freed in 2009.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
I met Anthony Boyd in 2018, when I was working on a story about Project Hope, the death row anti-death penalty group he now chairs. He told me he'd been involved with drugs in Anniston & had his problems with the cops, but wasn't involved in Gregory Huguley's death. boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
boltsmag.org
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
"The death penalty is supposed to be reserved for the worst offenders, but the judge sentenced Mr. Boyd to death even though the State’s own evidence showed he was not even the worst of the four co-defendants." eji.org/news/anthony...
eji.org
Alabama Plans to Execute Anthony Boyd
Anthony Boyd, 54, is scheduled to be executed on October 23.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
(pt. 2) "Please come sit down with me, talk to me, so you at least will know one person who has been executed with this method. And then I ask you: would you want somebody that you love and care about to be executed with this method?
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Anthony Boyd recorded a message to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, asking her to meet with him ahead of his execution with nitrogen gas on Thursday. "Before an innocent man is executed come sit down with me and have a conversation with the guy that you deem one of the worst of the worst."
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Ennui Doofen @ennuidoofen.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Are you aware we execute innocent people in the US quite regularly? Here's a story about Anthony Boyd, an innocent black man the state of Alabama intends to murder by gas mask next week. What can you do? Read this, and check out the thread below for how you can help. 🩷
boltsmag.org
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
pdx law grrrl @pdxlawgrrrl.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a murder. But a co-defendant testified against him under the threat of capital punishment. He was sentenced to death by a 10-2 jury vote. Only two states allow death sentences even when all jurors don’t agree. Alabama plans to execute him next week.
boltsmag.org
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
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Reposted by Lauren Gill
Alabama Reflector @alabamareflector.com · 19/10/2025
Via Lauren Gill and Bolts: No physical evidence linked Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. His conviction was based largely on the testimony of one witness who testified under threat of capital punishment. Alabama plans to execute Boyd on Thursday. ow.ly/NYak50XefHX
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Alabama plans to execute Anthony Boyd next week with nitrogen gas for a 1993 murder. No physical evidence linked Boyd to the crime. He was convicted solely on the testimony of a co-defendant who avoided the death penalty by testifying against him. boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
boltsmag.org
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
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Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Everything about this case shows how easy it is to send someone to death row. Anthony Boyd was sentenced to death entirely on dubious eyewitness testimony. His lawyer had a month to prepare for trial. Alabama plans to execute him next week. My latest @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
boltsmag.org
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
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Michael Barajas @michaelbarajas.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Anthony Boyd was sent to death row for murder with no physical evidence but rather on the word of a codefendant who testified against him to avoid execution. Boyd’s court-appointed lawyer admitted he was unprepared at trial important new story by @laurengill.bsky.social boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
boltsmag.org
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
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