OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma death row inmate due to be executed Thursday cannot have his spiritual guide with him in the execution chamber due to the minister’s vocal opposition to the death penalty, including arrests, reports The Department of Corrections said on Monday.
Scott Eisember, 61, asked that his spiritual guide, the Rev. Jeff Hood of Arkansas, be allowed into the execution chamber Thursday during his lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. But DOC officials expressed concern that Hood would not ensure the dignity of the process.
“Out of respect for the families of the victims, the ODOC will not allow activists to interfere, regardless of the activist’s stated role in this process,” said DOC spokesman Josh Ward. “The spiritual adviser in this case has been repeatedly arrested for similar antics in other states, showing blatant disregard for the experience of the families of the victims and the solemnity of the process.”
Ward said that Hood would still be allowed to see Eisember during the time leading up to his execution, and that Hood would be able to watch the execution from another part of the facility over a closed circuit.
On Monday, Hood and Eisember filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking to stop Eisember’s execution until Hood is allowed to enter the cell.
“Basically, this is an awakened preacher against the Department of Corrections,” Hood said. “We do think that this is certainly not only a violation of religious freedom, but also a violation of other First Amendment guarantees.”
Hood admitted his arrest during a peaceful anti-death penalty protest outside a Texas prison in 2016. He said he received a reprieve and the case was eventually dropped from his file.
On Monday, Hood and Eisember filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking to stop Eisember’s execution until Hood is allowed into the execution chamber. Texas and other states, including Oklahoma, have begun allowing clerics on death row during executions following a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling by death row inmates in Alabama.
Eisember was convicted of the shotgun murder of an elderly couple in eastern Oklahoma in 2003 and sentenced to death. The Oklahoma Parole and Parole Board voted 3-2 last month to reject a clemency recommendation.
The first Oklahoma inmate to have a spiritual guide in the death chamber was Bigler Stouffer in December 2021. Since then, several prisoners have decided that a priest is in the cell with them.
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