By Taylor Smith and Perla Brito
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, or OK-CADP, will hold a news conference Monday to urge a stay of execution on behalf of Scott Eizember, who is scheduled for execution Jan. 12, 2023.
Democratic State Representative Mauree Turner of Oklahoma City will facilitate the press event, which will be attended by Mark Henricksen, Eizember’s attorney; Jasmine Brown-Jutras, managing organizer for ACLU Oklahoma; and Don Heath, chair of the OK-CADP.
The hearing for Eizember’s clemency will take place this Wednesday at the Kate Barnard Community Corrections Center in Oklahoma City.
Eizember has strong support for his clemency petition from members of both the Black Caucus and the Democratic Caucus of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
This hearing comes just shy of two decades after Eizember committed the crimes for which he faces the death penalty, which makes his case one of the longest in Oklahoma’s large history of prisoners on death row.
The clemency petition argues Eizember’s crimes were unplanned and impulsive, and Pasty Cantrell’s death was due to an accidental discharge of a firearm. A struggle between A.J. Cantrell, Patsy’s husband, and Eizember resulted in the death of Cantrell.
Henricksen said, “A fair-minded clemency board could reasonably view the circumstances of his life and this desperate moment and conclude that his death should occur on God’s schedule rather than the State of Oklahoma’s.”
Sixty-one-year-old Eizember has been incarcerated for 19 years. His prison records show that he has reached the most favorable security rating available to an inmate living on death row.
Rev. Heath said, “We hope that the Pardon and Parole Board will consider Scott Eizember’s perspective of the tragic events at the Cantrell house and recommend clemency,
“He just wanted to meet with his ex-girlfriend, who had taken all his money, and she had agreed to give some of his money back so that he could return to Michigan and build a new life for himself,” he added.
The reverend concluded his statement, urging, “He made a series of tragic choices and will be incarcerated for the rest of his life. We ask that the Board allow him to die of natural causes in prison instead of being poisoned by the State.”
