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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. 

Death row inmate Rodney Reed loses motion for more DNA testing in case

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Rodney Reed
Death row inmate Rodney Reed’s motion for expanded DNA testing of evidence in his capital murder case was denied Tuesday by visiting Judge Doug Shaver, though the court did accept a separate motion delaying his date of execution from Jan. 15 to March 5.

Reed was convicted in the 1996 murder and rape of Stacy Stites, though defense attorneys contend Jimmy Fennell, Stites’ fiance, was likely responsible for the murder. Fennell is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a woman in his custody while employed as a Georgetown police officer.

Prosecutors this summer agreed to order additional DNA tests on swabs taken from Stites’ body, cuttings taken from her underwear and strands of hair retrieved from her left sock and her body. Test results have not yet been presented to the court, but will be available before March 5, prosecutors said.

Defense attorneys said Tuesday that the testing of additional items — including several pieces of clothing found on or near Stites, as well as two Busch beer cans — could also provide evidence supporting Reed’s innocence. The defense also wants to test a blue condom found near the crime scene by a resident, which was submitted to investigators several days after Stites’ murder. Shaver ultimately ruled that additional testing would unreasonably delay the execution.


Source: Statesman, November 25, 2014

Related article:
- Rodney Reed: Will Texas execute another innocent man?, November 25, 2014
Location: Texas, USA
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