McALESTER, Oklahoma (AP) — Oklahoma plans Thursday to execute a man who was convicted of murdering an elderly couple and other crimes before Texas authorities caught him 20 years ago.
Scott James Eisember, 62, will be given a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester at 10:30 a.m.
Eisember’s lawyers did not deny that he killed 76-year-old A. J. Cantrell and 70-year-old wife Patsy Cantrell on October 18, 2003. value.
The board voted 3-2 to reject the clemency recommendation.
“Every day of his imprisonment he felt remorse. He has no reason to kill him next month, except for revenge, ”lawyer Mark Henriksen told the council.
Eisember also spoke to the board of directors via video link from prison, accepting responsibility for his crimes and apologizing to his victims.
“I don’t make excuses. I belong in prison,” Eisember said. “I’ve said it since the beginning and I apologize to all victims and when I say everything I mean the entire Creek County community.”
Prosecutors allege Eisember broke into the Cantrells’ home in Depew, Oklahoma after he saw them leave to wait for his ex-girlfriend, Katherine Smith, who lived across the street. When the couple returned home unexpectedly, prosecutors say Eisember shot Patsy Cantrell with a shotgun he found in the house and then beat A.J. Cantrell to death with the weapon.
Eisember was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the murder of AJ Cantrell, and convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 150 years in prison for the murder of Patsy Cantrell. Eisember’s lawyers argued that Patsy Cantrell was shot when he and A.J. Cantrell fought over a shotgun.
After killing the couple, he crossed the street and entered Smith’s home, shot her son in the back, and assaulted her mother, prosecutors said. Both survived and Eisember eventually left town in a stolen car.
Authorities believe Eisember hid in the woodlands around Depew and Bristow for more than 30 days while law enforcement launched a massive manhunt to track him down.
“He was not afraid to kill again,” Assistant Attorney General Tessa Henry told the pardon board.
Eisember eventually made it to Arkansas in a stolen car and kidnapped the doctor and his wife at gunpoint. After driving with the couple to Texas, he was finally captured near the town of Lufkin after a doctor pulled a gun hidden in the couple’s van and shot Eisember four times, prosecutors said.
A federal jury in Arkansas found Eisember guilty in December 2005 of two counts of kidnapping and one count of auto theft and use of a firearm in a violent crime. In this case, he was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.
Eisember filed a last-minute lawsuit demanding that his spiritual adviser be with him on death row during his execution after the Department of Corrections denied the minister, Rev. Jeff Hood of Arkansas, due to Hood’s active opposition to the death row. executions. including arrests. On Wednesday, the DOC reversed course on the decision, citing concerns from the Cantrell family that the decision could lead to Thursday’s execution being overturned.
Oklahoma uses a three-drug lethal injection method, starting with the sedative midazolam, which renders a person unconscious, followed by the paralytic vecuronium bromide, and finally potassium chloride, which stops the heart.
Eisember’s execution will be Oklahoma’s eighth since the state resumed executions in 2021.
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Follow Shaun Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy
