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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. 

Alabama: Danny Joe Bradley executed

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Danny Joe Bradley, a resident of Alabama's death row for more than 26 years, was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. today at Holman Correctional Facility.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier in the day denied a stay of execution clearing the way for him to be put to death for the rape and strangulation of his 12-year-old stepdaughter.

Bradley's attorney had sought a Supreme Court stay of execution to allow more court review of Bradley's civil rights lawsuit on a DNA-related issue from his trial in Calhoun County, but lower courts had already denied that request.

Bradley, 49, was convicted of murdering his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Rhonda Hardin, who was sexually assaulted and strangled in Piedmont on the night of Jan. 24, 1983.

At the time of his step-daughter's murder, Bradley was caring for the 12-year-old girl and her younger brother, Gary Hardin Jr., while their mother was in the hospital.

Bradley becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year and the 40th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983.

Alabama now has 205 death row inmates.

Bradley becomes the 12th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1148th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: Birmingham News, Associated Press & Rick Halperin, Feb. 13, 2009
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