She regrets she wasn't strong enough to stand up to 11 other people. She regrets she sentenced a man to death.

Griffin was one of 12 jurors that sentenced Kenneth Lee Boyd to death for the 1988 murders of his estranged wife Julie Boyd and Thomas Curry, his father-in-law. Griffin said from that day since, she has regretted her decision.

Griffin served on the second jury to sentence Boyd to death. An earlier ruling was overturned on the grounds that Boyd's civil rights were violated.

It was Griffin's first time serving jury duty. She said she was nervous but felt it was a civic responsibility. She soon learned the case she would hear was a capital crime and that she would decide whether a man deserved to die or not.

"I'd never experienced anything like that," Griffin said.

With the evidence mounted against him, including the eyewitness accounts from his children, it took the jury little time to decide on Boyd's guilt, Griffin said.

"The trial was pretty cut and dry. He was guilty no doubt about that."

It was deciding on the sentencing that nearly hung the jury. But it didn't and that's what haunts Griffin.

Griffin disagreed with her fellow jurors that the crime was truly premeditated.

She said she didn't feel as though the state presented a strong enough case for premeditation.

Griffin also said it was never made clear to the jurors that they had the option of giving Boyd life in prison. With those concerns in mind, Griffin said the decision to give Boyd the death penalty took several days.

During that time, the jury went over again and again the criteria for premeditation, asking the judge to explain the law once more.

But as the days wore, on the jury became more frustrated and Griffin said she began to feel pressured and intimidated.

"It was like everybody wanted to get it over and done with and get out of there," she said.

The thought of hanging the jury entered Griffin's mind.

"I don't know that it would have made that much of a difference, but maybe if I stood my ground it would have made someone else look at it a little harder," she said.

But Griffin said the pressure from the other jurors was too great.

"You can call it peer pressure, you can call it whatever you want," but Griffin gave in and voted for the death penalty.

Last month Griffin received the shock of her life, she found out Boyd was still alive.

Several years ago Griffin read a newspaper article that discussed prisoners on death row. She mistakenly took from the article that Boyd had been executed. The article churned up old feelings of guilt and blame, feelings Griffin said she discussed with almost no one.

Then one day last month an intern from Winston & Maher, the law firm representing Boyd, came to her door and wanted to talk about the case. Griffin said she was shocked when the intern explained that Boyd was not dead but facing a Dec. 2 execution date.

"When that girl knocked on my door and told me what she was there for it blew my mind," Griffin said.

The law firm is filing for clemency and Griffin agreed to speak with Gov. Mike Easley on Nov. 15. Griffin said she'll ask Easley to commute Boyd's sentence to life in prison.

"Some people would probably consider it foolish," Griffin said but she said it's something feels she has to do.

Griffin says she knows the Curry and Boyd families have suffered and she hopes her speaking out doesn't cause them more pain. However, she said, she didn't stand up for what she felt was right all those years ago, and now that she has the chance to do something about it, nothing is going to change her mind.

Clemency, though, is a long shot. Even Boyd has said he isn't optimistic his death sentence will be overturned. If Boyd is executed, Griffin isn't sure how it will affect her.

"I can live with it but I'll probably always wonder if I could have changed it if I had stood up for myself." Just then her eyes began to fill with tears. "Maybe not, I don't know."

She said she doesn't want to think about how she'll feel after Boyd's executed. She's the only person to blame if he dies, she said.

"The guilt's not whether he lives or dies it's that I didn't stand my ground. I should have been stronger,"

Kenneth Lee Boyd is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 2 a.m. Dec. 2 in Central Prison.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at jewing@edendailynews.com or 623-2155.