Death penalty protesters will be riding buses, driving and flying to Raleigh as the state prepares to execute the 1,000th person since capital punishment resumed in the United States in 1977.

A 55-passenger bus is coming from Washington, picking up people at Fredericksburg and Richmond along the way. Leaders of Amnesty International and other national groups that oppose the death penalty plan to attend tonight's vigil outside Raleigh's Central Prison. Other protesters are traveling from across the country. And Friday morning's execution of Kenneth Lee Boyd, who killed his estranged wife and father-in-law in 1988, is expected to attract national and international media attention.

"I don't expect a huge crowd. But certainly there will be more than the normal amount at that prison," said Abe Bonowitz, a protest organizer and director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, based in Gainesville, Fla. "I know people coming from Texas, New Hampshire, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan, Illinois -- and this is just off the top of my head."

Typically on execution nights, 50 or more protesters stand along Western Boulevard outside the prison after gathering for a prayer service at a nearby church. The numbers dwindle as the 2 a.m. execution grows closer.

The prison will have extra staff working to deal with more protesters and a larger media presence, said spokeswoman Pamela Walker.

In anticipation of the 1,000th execution, death penalty opponents had planned vigils and protests in 25 states this week.

In Raleigh, protesters will gather at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church and walk to the prison in a candlelight procession. At 9:30 p.m., Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, director of Amnesty USA's death penalty abolition program, and Rick Halperin, head of Amnesty USA's board, will speak, among others. Starting at 11 p.m., protesters will read the names of all the people executed since Gary Gilmore died by firing squad in 1977.

Boyd, 57, is scheduled to be executed at 2 a.m. Friday for killing Julie Boyd and Thomas Dillard Curry at their Rockingham County home. Boyd, who committed the killings in front of his two children, also threatened to kill his brother-in-law.

Boyd's brother-in-law, Craig Curry of Stoneville, who was present during the killings, wants to see the execution carried out.

"If anyone deserves it, this guy does," Curry said this week.

Boyd is still hoping to avoid death by lethal injection. A court could halt the execution based on his last-minute appeals, or Gov. Mike Easley could grant clemency and commute his sentence to life in prison. Easley, a Roman Catholic, is at odds with his church by supporting the death penalty.

On Wednesday, Raleigh Bishop F. Joseph Gossman issued a statement calling for an end to capital punishment. "Respect for life applies to all, even the perpetrators of terrible acts," Gossman wrote.

"State sanctioned killing in our name diminishes all of us."

Boyd entered the spotlight as the likely 1,000th person to be executed when Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner granted clemency Tuesday to Robin Lovitt, who was set to be executed Wednesday. Warner cited the improper destruction of the murder weapon, a pair of scissors, as the reason for his mercy. Lovitt had hoped DNA testing of the scissors would prove his innocence in a 1998 pool hall slaying in Arlington, Va.

Boyd was not happy about becoming a milestone in the country's death penalty history.

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

Boyd also told The Associated Press that he remembers little about the night of the killings. "I remember sitting in my house, nobody there," Boyd 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.

"It's just a thing that happened, just snapped."