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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. 

Carlton Gary execution stopped by Georgia Supreme Court

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In a 5-2 vote, the Supreme Court of Georgia today granted Carlton Gary's motion for a stay of execution and ordered the Muscogee County Superior Court to conduct a hearing on his request for DNA testing.

Gary, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986 for the rapes and strangulation murders of 3 elderly women in Columbus, was due to be executed tonight at 7 p.m.by lethal injection. Gary's attorneys have claimed that DNA testing of hair, semen and fingernail scrapings found on his alleged victims was not available at the time of his conviction.

All justices concurred in today's decision except Chief Justice Carol Hunstein and Presiding Justice George Carley, who dissented.

Source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, December 16, 2009
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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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