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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. 

Texas: Virgil Martinez executed

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Texas has executed a former Houston security guard for gunning down 4 people, including his ex-girlfriend and her 2 small children, during a 1996 shooting frenzy.

41-year-old Virgil Martinez was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday.

Martinez was condemned for the slayings of 27-year-old Veronica Fuentes; her 5-year-old son, Joshua; 3-year-old daughter, Casandra; and an 18-year-old neighbor, John Gomez.

Lawyers for Martinez had hoped to get the punishment delayed, raising questions he may be so mentally ill that he could be disqualified for execution. A state court denied the request.

Martinez becomes the 4th Texas inmate executed this year and the 1st of 2 on consecutive nights this week in the nation's most active death penalty state. He becomes the 427th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment on Dec. 7, 1982, and the 188th overall to be put to death since Rick Perry became governor in 2001.

Martinez becomes the 6th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1142nd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. There are 7 executions currently set to occur in the USA in February, including 3 in Texas and 1 each in Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia and South Carolina.

Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, January 29, 2009
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