A story no one likes to cover
Kenneth Lee Boyd was executed in Raleigh at 2 a.m. today. Even though that's well after our last news deadline, we were able to stop the press run and get the story into the last 20,000 papers, which are distributed in Greensboro.
Staff writer Elyse Ashburn served as one of the media representives to witness the execution, and she filed our story about it this morning. As many as 16 people witness executions in North Carolina, including 5 media representatives who are responsible for briefing other reporters after the fact. We'll have more from her about the scene in Raleigh in tomorrow's paper.
We don't enjoy this duty; it's emotionally wrenching to watch someone, regardless of his crime, being put to death. The only time we agree to send a reporter is when an inmate from the Greensboro-High Point area is being executed. Looks, though, like we'll have the chance next month when Perrie Simpson of Greensboro is scheduled for lethal injection.