The number brought international attention to Raleigh's Central Prison.

A jury sentenced Boyd to death for killing his estranged wife and father-in-law in 1988. Two of the victims' relatives planned to watch as prison officials injected a series of lethal drugs into Boyd's veins; others had said he deserved to die for his crimes.

As the 2 a.m. death hour approached, hundreds of death penalty opponents protested outside the prison and about 20 were arrested. National leaders in the anti-death penalty movement spoke to the crowd. Reporters from international wire services and local television stations alike were on hand.

Former North Carolina death row inmate Alan Gell was among the protesters, wearing a red T-shirt that said: "Innocent. N.C. Department of Correction Death Row." He told those gathered that he was friendly with Boyd in prison.

"I want to hope and pray that Kenneth Boyd be not remembered as the 1,000th person executed. I hope he is remembered as Kenneth Boyd -- not a number, but a human being," said Gell, who was acquitted of a murder charge after a retrial.

Boyd, 57, was thrust into this spotlight Tuesday when Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner granted clemency to Robin Lovitt, who had been scheduled for execution Wednesday. With that decision, Warner sent the death penalty protesters and media attention south along Interstate 95.

News accounts about the anticipated 1,000th execution appeared on Agence France-Presse, a French wire service; China Daily, a national English language newspaper; and the Guardian in London.

On Thursday, Boyd visited all day with one of his sons. At 5 p.m., he ate his last meal: a medium-well New York strip steak, a baked potato with sour cream, a roll with butter, a salad with ranch dressing and a Pepsi. At close to 6 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Boyd's last legal appeals based on claims of juror misconduct and bias.

At 10 p.m. Thursday, Gov. Mike Easley denied Boyd's request for clemency. "I find no compelling reason to grant clemency and overturn the unanimous jury verdicts affirmed by the state and federal courts," Easley said in a statement.

The protesters lined Western Boulevard holding candles and signs as a slight rain fell and the temperature dropped to 45 degrees. One held a large white cross. Another held a large yellow peace sign. At the end of the sidewalk stood a hangman's gallows.

At 11:27 p.m., about 20 protesters tried to get to the prison to stop the execution. The group dashed past the line of officers standing guard at the top of the prison's driveway. A few got as far as 15 feet down the driveway. As police stopped them, other protesters clapped, cheered and sang "We Shall Overcome."

Police soon handcuffed the arrestees and loaded them into a bus and a police van for the ride to the Wake County jail.

The protest marked a moment that took almost three decades to arrive. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional, ruling that states meted out the punishment arbitrarily. Four years later, the court validated several states' rewritten death penalty laws.

Executions resumed in January 1977 when a Utah firing squad killed Gary Gilmore. North Carolina's first execution was in 1984, when James W. Hutchins died for killing three law officers.

Almost 1,500 people died at the hands of the inmates executed during the past 28 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The 1,000th execution occurred amid national debate over capital punishment. Fewer killers are being sentenced to death and fewer are being executed. Some states have been roiled by evidence that innocents end up on death row.

"Jurors are starting to question the death penalty," Boyd's lawyer, Thomas Maher of Chapel Hill, told those gathered Thursday evening.

By 2001, a slim majority of Americans -- 53 percent of people questioned in a Gallup poll -- said they supported a moratorium until the administration of the death penalty could be evaluated.

Illinois passed a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000 after 13 convicted men were exonerated. For several years, North Carolina has been debating a two-year moratorium on executions.

That campaign has so far faltered. The state Senate approved a moratorium in 2003, but it never came up in the House. This summer, a moratorium bill again failed to get a vote on the House floor.

Instead, House Speaker Jim Black, a Democrat from the Charlotte area, appointed a 22-member committee to consider whether the death penalty is being applied fairly in North Carolina. It meets for the first time Dec. 19.

"My hope is to recommend some changes in the law to make the capital punishment process more fair, minimize the chances of any innocent person getting caught up in it and look at issues of proportionality and racial discrimination," said Rep. Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat and committee co-chairman.

Branny Vickory, president of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys, which opposed the select committee's creation, questions what more needs to be studied. Vickory points out that prosecutors supported past changes to the system -- outlawing the death penalty for the mentally retarded and having prosecutors agree to share all their evidence and open their files to defense lawyers before trial.

"We're running around in a lot of different directions, looking at the procedures, when the real issue is whether we want a death penalty," said Vickory, the prosecutor in Wayne County.

The General Assembly will take up the committee's recommendations when it reconvenes in spring.

Meanwhile, the United states will leave Boyd's landmark death behind quickly.

The 1,001st execution is set today in South Carolina. Shawn Humphries, who killed a store clerk, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m.