Minister sues Oklahoma Department of Corrections for $10 million
Mar. 28—A spiritual adviser for an Oklahoma death row inmate executed in January sued the state's corrections department for $10 million over alleged defaming statements from its spokesperson.
Dr. Rev. Jeff Hood alleges in a federal lawsuit filed Friday that a Jan. 9 statement about his previous arrests attributed to ODOC spokesman Josh Ward was false and defamatory.
"The Department of Corrections knew they were false when they were made and they were designed to harm Jeff in his efforts to exercise his civil rights," Kim Cole, an attorney for Hood, said in a Monday press conference. "That is not acceptable, and they must be held accountable for these statements."
"It's not just that they made false statements. It's not that they just accused me of arrests that never happened," Hood said in the press conference. "It's that they stacked it on top of being disrespectful to victim's families."
ODOC officials initially denied Hood's presence inside the chamber during the execution for because they said the Arkansas minister's anti-death penalty activism and prior arrests made him a potential security threat.
Hood was arrested in a peaceful anti-death penalty protest outside a Texas prison during an inmate's execution in 2016. He told the Associated Press he received a deferred sentence and the case was expunged.
Attorneys claimed in a lawsuit that the ODOC decision to bar Hood from being present as Eizember's spiritual adviser violated the inmate's right to express religion.
ODOC reversed its decision after prison officials spoke with the Cantrell family and reached an agreement with Hood.
Ward in a Jan. 9 statement emailed to media members said Hood was denied access to be inside the execution chamber with Scott Eizember due to Hood being an activist and his prior arrests.
"Out of respect for the families of victims, ODOC will not allow the outbursts of activists to interfere, regardless of that activist's declared role in this process," DOC spokesman Josh Ward said in the statement. "The spiritual advisor in this case has been arrested multiple times for such outbursts in other states, demonstrating a blatant disregard for the experiences of victims' families and the solemnity of the process."
When reached for comment, Ward said the agency's policy is to not comment on pending litigation.
The latest lawsuit states Hood was arrested during peaceful protests in the past, but never for disrupting an execution. Attorneys said ODOC knew "or should have known" the statement was false after running extensive background checks.
"It was performed to keep me from exercising my religious liberty to be there with this person who was being executed, which also violated his religious liberty," Hood said.
Hood said the family of AJ and Patsy Cantrell, who Eizember was convicted for killing, said they family was kind to Hood throughout the process despite their opposing opinions on the execution of Eizember.
The lawsuit states ODOC's and Ward's "unconscionable conduct goes beyond ordinary negligence" with the lawsuit seeking punitive and exemplary damages in the sum of $10 million.
Contact Derrick James at djames@mcalesternews.com
