Underrepresented: Oklahoma Death Row Inmate Michael Smith, the Relentless Campaign of a Mother and the Failure of the Capital Habeas Unit in Oklahoma This is Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood. I serve as a spiritual advisor to Michael Smith, who is currently imprisoned on Oklahoma’s Death Row. I am here with Michael Smith’s mom, Vanessa Smith, to give her the opportunity to discuss some of the recent frustrations that she’s had with Michael’s legal representation at the Capital Habeas... Read more
Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood: On December the 20th, 1996, Juli Busken was abducted from her apartment complex, driven out to Lake Stanley Draper and executed, murdered on the shore. For years, authorities had very little evidence and no suspects to go on. They found a traced amount of DNA on a leotard that was found close to the body of Juli Busken. Using that trace amount they claim to, six or seven years later, get a random match on... Read more
To The Family of Juli Busken. Much has been made of my effort to save the life of Anthony Sanchez. I do not apologize for such work. Indeed, I believe that the message of Jesus compels me to such work. From the beginning, I told Sanchez that I would do everything in my power to save his life and that if I failed, I would be there to pray with him as he died. Though my work... Read more
“Courage Personified: Anthony Sanchez” In our day, courage is an interesting cultural phenomenon. It’s sort of a linguistical mirage. Everybody talks about it…but nobody seems to actually know the fullness of what they describe. It is a partial without the perfect. For a very long time, I knew the partial. Then, I met the perfect. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus the Christ is drowning in a world of sorrow. Knowing that society is determined to... Read more
*This is the condensed version (225 words) of the original “Anthony Sanchez: The Innocence Report” (4000 words) On December 20, 1996, the body of accomplished ballerina Juli Busken was found floating in the shallow water of Lake Stanley Draper, right outside of Norman, Oklahoma. For years after the incident, the murder went unsolved. Then, state authorities miraculously matched DNA from the scene with DNA in a database of convicted felons. As a result of the sensational turn of events,... Read more
Anthony Sanchez: The Innocence Report *The following report is based on an extended conversation between Anthony Sanchez’s Investigator David Ballard and his Spiritual Advisor Jeff Hood. On the morning of December 20, 1996, Juli Busken was up early to help a friend who was leaving town. When she returned to her apartment complex around 5:30am, she met pure evil. Her abductor forced her into her car. There were multiple witnesses who saw them driving toward Lake... Read more
Words from Oklahoma’s Death Row: Emmanuel Littlejohn on the Richard Glossip Moment Late last night, I got this message from Emmanuel Littlejohn. He is one of the guys in Oklahoma that I work most closely with. The background of this message is that Littlejohn was part of a robbery where a convenience store clerk was killed (in fact, his accomplice fired the shot without his knowledge). Although he didn’t kill anyone, he was convicted under a type... Read more
The Failure of the Campaign to Save Richard Glossip & The Hope of Resurrection Light remained longer than I thought it would. It was as if the sun refused to move. Looking up, I felt like the very cosmos was trying to expose what was going on. It was the evening of September 21, 2011. With hundreds of others, I stood outside of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia. In front of me, row after... Read more
A Higher Bar: On the Hidden Fallacy of the Richard Glossip Clemency Hearing This morning, I’ve been watching the clemency hearing of Richard Glossip. Repeatedly, I’ve heard the word, “innocent.” Let there be no doubt, I believe Glossip is innocent. Ultimately though, this hearing is truly problematic charade for everyone on death row other than Glossip. In fact, I believe it is setting a new impossible standard for saving their lives. Hear the words of multiple state officials:... Read more
OpEd originally published on April 24, 2023 in the The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Words, Voyeurism and Presence: On Our Tornado Recovery Our home is gone. That which the wind didn’t take the rain did. Nobody prepares for it…realizing that your life as you knew it is forever changed. What do you say to your kids? The only thing that I knew to say was to repeatedly say, “I love you.” Other than that, I’m just present. I’m just... Read more
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