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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

Judge Issues Stay Of Execution For Paul Reid

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A federal judge has issued a stay of execution for Paul Dennis Reid, a death row inmate facing multiple death sentences for a series of slayings at fast food restaurants.

Reid, a Texas drifter who came to Nashville to be a country singer, was convicted of killing seven people in Nashville and Clarksville in 1997. Reid, 50, had been scheduled to be executed on Jan. 3.

U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell ruled late last week that the Reid execution should be delayed until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a Kentucky case on whether lethal injection procedures are cruel and unusual.

The nation's highest court is scheduled to hear arguments on the Kentucky case on Jan. 7, but it could be several months before it reaches a decision.

Attorney General Bob Cooper's spokeswoman Sharon Curtis-Flair said the state has no plans to appeal the stay.

Campbell said his order does not affect Reid's conviction or his death sentence.

Another Nashville federal judge earlier this month on similar grounds postponed the execution of Pervis Payne, who was convicted of fatally stabbing a Millington woman and her 2-year-old daughter in 1987. More

Source: WSMV Nashville
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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

Published
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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 
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Oklahoma prepares to kill another man who says he's innocent

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