{"id":10086,"date":"2022-12-19T22:32:03","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T04:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/?p=10086"},"modified":"2022-12-20T11:05:24","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T17:05:24","slug":"clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma’s Death Row"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police brutality thrives in places of ambiguity.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everyone assumes that trust is shared.\u00a0\u00a0Places where the past is assumed to have already passed.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everybody says that people are just people.\u00a0Places with few questions and countless answers. Places like\u00a0Tulsa, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the night of August 25, 2005, Mitch Thompson, Tara Burchette-Thompson and 10-year-old Kyla Burchette were brutally murdered.\u00a0\u00a0When an event like this happens in a predominantly white town, vengeance is swift\u2026especially when the majority of the victims are white.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Classic criminal injustice tactics took over.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Squeeze the first person you find.<\/li>\n
  2. Suggest names.<\/li>\n
  3. Guide the first person to needed evidence.<\/li>\n
  4. Piece together the narrative.<\/li>\n
  5. Create witnesses.<\/li>\n
  6. Coax the witnesses through persuasion.<\/li>\n
  7. Use priors to solicit whatever information you need.<\/li>\n
  8. Make big public claims.<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cFind\u201d evidence.<\/li>\n
  10. Shout about justice over and over.<\/li>\n
  11. \u201cSolve\u201d the case.<\/li>\n
  12. Stand by your findings.<\/li>\n
  13. Coach everyone.<\/li>\n
  14. Use emotion.<\/li>\n
  15. Secure a conviction.<\/li>\n
  16. Push for the harshest sentence.<\/li>\n
  17. Scream for death.<\/li>\n
  18. AND\u2026no matter what happens\u2026Champion the bullshit you\u2019ve created.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Thus, is the story of Clarance Goode Jr., a black Native-American man.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    So, where was Clarance on the night of August 25, 2005?\u00a0\u00a0Around 10pm, Clarance went home\u2026as he and his mother were supposed to go visit his brother in prison the next day.\u00a0\u00a0Multiple people came forward to testify to this fact.\u00a0\u00a0After 10pm, the guys that Clarance had been hanging out with perpetrated a heinous crime.\u00a0\u00a0Clarance didn\u2019t hear about the tragedy until the next day. Then, the injustice creators took over.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    The main perpetrator of the crime (not Clarance) was discovered quickly.\u00a0\u00a0After admitting that he had been high on drugs when he committed the crime, he went through multiple variations of the events before he was guided to include Clarance.\u00a0\u00a0It seems as if the police knew that Clarance had been with the guys earlier and were determined to implicate him as well.\u00a0\u00a0Later, Mitch Thompson\u2019s sister was brought in.\u00a0\u00a0The police were aware that she was in a romantic relationship with Clarance and also had multiple criminal issues herself.\u00a0\u00a0Based on a video in which the police intentionally turned off the sound that shows her being bullied for hours, it is clear that the police coaxed her into implicating Clarance in order to save her own skin.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    On August 27, 2005, Clarance went to the station willingly to give a statement about being with the guys before the incident.\u00a0\u00a0Upon his arrival, the police detained him and charged him with murder the next day.\u00a0\u00a0True to form, the police went searching for a bullet to match their version of events.\u00a0\u00a0While searching a grassy field, a detective (who was later sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for fabricating evidence in other cases) \u201cmagically\u201d found the \u201cright bullet\u201d in the \u201cright spot\u201d after everybody else had been searching for hours.\u00a0\u00a0The detective was even reportedly heard declaring, \u201cI\u2019ll do whatever it takes to get Clarance.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0If this is not a case of police brutality, I don\u2019t know what is.\u00a0\u00a0White cops determined to pin a rap on a black man.\u00a0\u00a0At trial, a white prosecutor, a white jury and a white judge convicted Clarance and sentenced him to death.\u00a0 From start to finish, white got to determine what was right.\u00a0 Justice only seems to benefit one color in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Though various facts have come to light that dispute the police\u2019s version of events, prosecutors have stood by their fiction\u2026and I have no doubt that they will continue to\u2026until they get what they\u2019ve wanted all along\u2026a lynching in slow motion.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Will you help us save Clarance from the racist mob in blue?<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Join us @<\/p>\n

    https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/anti-death-penalty-justice-for-clarance-goode-jr<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 \u00a0 Police brutality thrives in places of ambiguity.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everyone assumes that trust is shared.\u00a0\u00a0Places where the past is assumed to have already passed.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everybody says that people are just people.\u00a0Places with few questions and countless answers. Places like\u00a0Tulsa, Oklahoma. \u00a0 On the night of August 25, 2005, Mitch Thompson, Tara Burchette-Thompson and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2509,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[6816,6819,829,1132,1390,2521,6370,6534],"class_list":["post-10086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freshwritings","category-thoughts","tag-clarance-goode","tag-clarance-goode-jr","tag-death-penalty","tag-execution","tag-god","tag-oklahoma","tag-oklahoma-board-of-pardon-and-parole","tag-oklahoma-state-penitentiary"],"yoast_head":"\nClarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma's Death Row<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Police brutality thrives in places of ambiguity.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everyone assumes that trust is shared.\u00a0\u00a0Places where the past is assumed to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Clarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma's Death Row\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Police brutality thrives in places of ambiguity.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everyone assumes that trust is shared.\u00a0\u00a0Places where the past is assumed to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jeff Hood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-20T04:32:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-20T17:05:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff Hood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff Hood\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/\",\"name\":\"Clarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma's Death Row\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-20T04:32:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-20T17:05:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/7520c1e5a6c2879d78536396c58007de\"},\"description\":\"    Police brutality thrives in places of ambiguity.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everyone assumes that trust is shared.\u00a0\u00a0Places where the past is assumed to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Clarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma’s Death Row\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/\",\"name\":\"Jeff Hood\",\"description\":\"Exploring Radical Orthodoxy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/7520c1e5a6c2879d78536396c58007de\",\"name\":\"Jeff Hood\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ebe6683fcc2aa8526866c4ce7b921c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ebe6683fcc2aa8526866c4ce7b921c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeff Hood\"},\"description\":\"The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a Catholic priest (Old Catholic), theologian, and nationally recognized activist based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. A spiritual advisor to death row inmates across the country, Dr. Hood has accompanied more people to their executions than any other advisor in the U.S., including the first-ever nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2024. His work sits at the intersection of justice, radical compassion, and public theology. Dr. Hood holds advanced degrees from Auburn, Emory, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, University of Alabama, Creighton, and Brite Divinity School, among others. He also earned a PhD in metaphysical theology and founded The New Theology School, where he serves as Dean and Professor of Prophetic Theology. Author of over 100 books\u2014including the award-winning The Courage to Be Queer\u2014Dr. Hood\u2019s writings and activism have been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, CNN, and more. A frequent collaborator with men on death row, he sees theology as a shared, liberative act. Dr. Hood has served on the leadership teams of organizations like the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. His activism has earned multiple awards, including recognition from PFLAG and the Next Generation Action Network. On July 7, 2016, Dr. Hood led the Dallas protest against police brutality that ended in tragedy. His actions that night saved lives, and his story is now archived in the Dallas Public Library. A father of five, husband to Emily, and friend to the incarcerated, Dr. Hood rejects institutionalism in favor of a theology rooted in people, presence, and prophetic witness.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/author\/jeff-hood\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Clarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma's Death Row","description":"    Police brutality thrives in places of ambiguity.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everyone assumes that trust is shared.\u00a0\u00a0Places where the past is assumed to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Clarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma's Death Row","og_description":"    Police brutality thrives in places of ambiguity.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everyone assumes that trust is shared.\u00a0\u00a0Places where the past is assumed to","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/","og_site_name":"Jeff Hood","article_published_time":"2022-12-20T04:32:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-20T17:05:24+00:00","author":"Jeff Hood","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeff Hood","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/","name":"Clarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma's Death Row","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-12-20T04:32:03+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-20T17:05:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/7520c1e5a6c2879d78536396c58007de"},"description":"    Police brutality thrives in places of ambiguity.\u00a0\u00a0Places where everyone assumes that trust is shared.\u00a0\u00a0Places where the past is assumed to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/clarance-goode-jr-an-innocent-man-on-oklahomas-death-row\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Clarance Goode, Jr. : An Innocent Man on Oklahoma’s Death Row"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/","name":"Jeff Hood","description":"Exploring Radical Orthodoxy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/7520c1e5a6c2879d78536396c58007de","name":"Jeff Hood","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ebe6683fcc2aa8526866c4ce7b921c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ebe6683fcc2aa8526866c4ce7b921c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Jeff Hood"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a Catholic priest (Old Catholic), theologian, and nationally recognized activist based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. A spiritual advisor to death row inmates across the country, Dr. Hood has accompanied more people to their executions than any other advisor in the U.S., including the first-ever nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2024. His work sits at the intersection of justice, radical compassion, and public theology. Dr. Hood holds advanced degrees from Auburn, Emory, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, University of Alabama, Creighton, and Brite Divinity School, among others. He also earned a PhD in metaphysical theology and founded The New Theology School, where he serves as Dean and Professor of Prophetic Theology. Author of over 100 books\u2014including the award-winning The Courage to Be Queer\u2014Dr. Hood\u2019s writings and activism have been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, CNN, and more. A frequent collaborator with men on death row, he sees theology as a shared, liberative act. Dr. Hood has served on the leadership teams of organizations like the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. His activism has earned multiple awards, including recognition from PFLAG and the Next Generation Action Network. On July 7, 2016, Dr. Hood led the Dallas protest against police brutality that ended in tragedy. His actions that night saved lives, and his story is now archived in the Dallas Public Library. A father of five, husband to Emily, and friend to the incarcerated, Dr. Hood rejects institutionalism in favor of a theology rooted in people, presence, and prophetic witness.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/author\/jeff-hood\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}