Scott Eizember executed – first execution of the year in Oklahoma
On Thursday morning, 62-year-old Scott Eizember was executed by lethal injection by the state of Oklahoma. He was sentenced to death for the 2003 murder of a 76-year-old man.
Eizember had broken into the home of the man and his 70-year-old wife while they were away. When the couple surprised him upon their return, Eizember threatened them with his gun, which he had found in the house.
The 76-year-old found a chance to get the shotgun to himself, fired a shot that grazed Eizember and fatally shot his wife. Eizember then snatched the gun from his hand, striking the 76-year-old.
The perpetrator had grown up in a home marked by drug addiction and alcohol abuse. When he was eight months old, his mother committed suicide. In his early teens, his stepmother died of liver disease.
Because of the difficulties he grew up with, Eizember suffered from alcoholism, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts for years.
A few days before his execution, Eizember, along with his spiritual advisor, Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, had to fight in court for the right to be in the execution room.
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections had denied Hood access to the execution, citing Hood’s social activism and concern for the “solemnity of the process.”
Hood is known as an activist against the death penalty. He was eventually admitted under tight security by several officials.