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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. 

Arizona sets execution date for convicted killer Joseph Rudolph Wood III

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Joseph Wood
A July 23 execution date has been set for an Arizona death row inmate convicted in the killings of his estranged girlfriend and her father in Tucson nearly 25 years ago.

The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday set the execution date for 55-year-old Joseph Rudolph Wood III.

Wood was sentenced to death for the August 1989 murders of Debra and Eugene Dietz at the Tucson auto-body shop where they worked.

Appeals courts have upheld Wood's convictions and death sentence and the Arizona Attorney General's Office says Wood has exhausted his appeals and has no action pending in any court.

A defense lawyer for Wood is opposed to Arizona's intent to use midazolam and hydromorphone in a 3-drug protocol, saying the drugs were problematic during recent executions in other states. 

Source: Associated Press, May 29, 2014
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