An American man sentenced to death for the murder of an elderly couple was executed at 5 p.m. today. The Oklahoma prison authorities then allow the priest they had initially banned.
Scott Eizember, 62, will receive a lethal injection at McAlester Prison in the US at 10 a.m. local time (5 p.m. in Belgium). The man was sentenced to death in 2005 for the murder of an elderly couple two years earlier. According to a court statement, he “held the couple captive in their home for hours” before shooting the woman and then bashing the man’s skull in with his gun.
Last September, the convict was visited by a priest who was strongly opposed to the death penalty. The man, Jeffrey Hood, is part of the Old Catholic Church (which broke with Rome). Eizember wanted Hood to be present at his execution, but he was refused by the prison authorities.
The two men then went to court, accusing the officials of “hostility to religion”. In the end, the prison agreed to the presence of the priest to end the proceedings and in the interest of the victims’ families.
‼️ JUST IN: Oklahoma has executed death row inmate Scott Eizember, who was convicted of killing a couple in 2003. Here’s more: https://t.co/tVm8tF2YFd pic.twitter.com/3asNfqpBAi
— koconews (@koconews) January 12, 2023