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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. 

Ohio: Jeffrey Hill spared

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Gov. Ted Strickland spared the life of a death row inmate who killed his mother in a cocaine-induced rage and whose scheduled execution was opposed by his family, including his mother’s siblings.

The inmate, Jeffrey Hill, 44, had been scheduled to die March 3. But Mr. Strickland said he agreed with the Ohio Parole Board, which recommended last week that Mr. Hill not be put to death and should eventually be released from prison.

Mr. Hill stabbed his mother, Emma Hill, to death in 1991. As she lay dying in her Cincinnati apartment, he took $20 from her to spend on drugs, returning later to take $80. Mr. Hill’s family said they had suffered enough and that putting him to death would only make matters worse.

Source: NYT, Feb. 13, 2009
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