Oklahoma prison officials: Pastor can’t be in death chamber

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Department of Corrections says a condemned inmate’s spiritual advisor cannot be inside the death chamber during his execution on Thursday. In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Monday, DOC spokesman Josh Ward said death row inmate Scott Eizember’s minister has a history of anti-death penalty activism, including arrests. The Rev. Jeff Hood and Eizember filed a lawsuit in federal district court on Monday seeking to stop Eizember’s execution until Hood is allowed inside the execution chamber. Texas and other states, including Oklahoma, have begun allowing clergy inside the death chamber during executions following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2021 brought by a death row inmate in Alabama.