Boyd Young is the Director of the Capital Trial Division of the South Carolina Commission of Indigent Defense in Columbia, SC. Where he has practiced since 2008. He and his office have successfully resolved hundreds of capital cases through plea and trial. He has been working on death penalty cases since 2005. He was selected as the inaugural “Andrew David Grimes Public Defender of the Year” for 2015. He teaches trial advocacy at the National Criminal Defense College, and Capital Jury Selection at the National Capital Voir Dire College. He serves as one of the co-chairs for NACDL’s Capital Case Committee and speaks regularly at their annual seminar, “Making the Case for Life.”

From 2005-2008, Boyd was a trial attorney with the Georgia Capital Defender Office in Atlanta, Ga. where he defended people accused of capital murder throughout the State of Georgia. While at the Georgia Capital Defender Office he was featured in a series of articles published by the McClatchy Newspapers written by Steven Henderson. This series was later turned into a PBS documentary titled “Death is Different.”

Prior to joining the Georgia Capital Defender Office, Boyd was a public defender in Charleston, SC. Boyd got his law degree in 1999 from South Carolina and his undergraduate degree in Biology from The Citadel in Charleston, SC.

When he has time off form work, he tries to raise his 11-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter with his wife, Laura – also a public defender. They also appear to be trying to start a zoo, with anywhere from 2 to four dogs, a cat, 2 rabbits, and other animals that the kids bring in from outside at any one time.