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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. 

Sniper Reverses Stance on Appeal

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McLEAN, Va. (AP) — The convicted sniper John A. Muhammad has changed his mind again and now wants to go forward with a federal appeal of his conviction and death sentence, his lawyers have said.

In a letter from death row made public this week, Mr. Muhammad told the Virginia attorney general that he wanted to suspend all appeals on his 2003 death sentence and that appeals filed on his behalf were not authorized. But Mr. Muhammad’s lawyer James Connell wrote on Thursday to a United States district judge saying Mr. Muhammad now wanted to proceed with his appeal.

“Mr. Muhammad expressly authorized me to represent that (1) he does not wish to be executed; (2) he does not wish to abandon the (appeals) process; and (3) he does not wish to discharge his legal team,” Mr. Connell wrote.

Katherine Baldwin, a senior assistant attorney general who represents Virginia, said Friday that she accepted Mr. Connell’s representation and that she saw no reason to take action based on Mr. Muhammad’s earlier letter.

Mr. Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Malvo, were convicted after the October 2002 sniper shootings that left 10 people dead. Mr. Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.

Source: The New York Times
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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. 
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Oklahoma prepares to kill another man who says he's innocent

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