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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. 

New York | Buffalo mass shooter will appear in court for federal hate crimes case

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The man responsible for the racially-motivated mass shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo is due back in federal court on Tuesday morning.

Federal prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against Payton Gendron, the White supremacist who killed 10 Black people in the mass shooting on May 14, 2022.

Gendron is already serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after he pleaded guilty to state charges. 

While New York State doesn’t have the death penalty, the Justice Department has the option of seeking it in a separate federal hate crimes case.

Gendron’s appearance comes after the court granted an extension for the U.S. government to file its affidavits. 

The federal trial is expected to begin in September of 2025.

His appearance also comes after the dedication of a new memorial at Tops to honor the victims two years after the mass shooting. Hundreds of people came to the ceremony unveiling the “5/14 Honor Space.”

According to a post that Payton Gendron made online, he also planned to target the Tops in Rochester on West Avenue, also in a majority Black community.

Source: whec.com, Staff, May 21, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Buffalo, NY, USA
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