Reverends launch local activist group opposing US executions
Two faith leaders have invited Bermudians to the launch of a campaign group advocating for the abolition of punishment by execution in the United States.
Reverends Jeff Hood and Augustine Tanner-Ihm will hold the first sitting of Bermudians Against the Death Penalty tomorrow morning.
The aim of the group is to put pressure on states to halt and eventually abolish capital punishment — something the pair argued Bermuda was uniquely qualified to do.
Dr Hood said: “People in the States, they love Bermuda. It’s a small island but it’s a loved island.
“You all know what the death penalty costs. I think you can be a beacon of hope.”
Dr Hood was speaking ahead of his arrival today to the island, where he will introduce Bermudians Against the Death Penalty with Dr Tanner-Ihm, the minister of Wesley Community Church.
He has served as a spiritual adviser for several death-row inmates and witnessed the first execution by nitrogen gas in the world.
Dr Hood recognised the 1977 executions of Erskine Burrows and Larry Tacklyn.
Burrows was sentenced to death for killing police commissioner George Duckett in 1972 and the murders of Sir Richard Sharples, the Governor, and his aide-de-camp, Captain Hugh Sayers, in the grounds of Government House in 1973.
Tacklyn was acquitted of the Government House shootings but both men were found guilty of the 1973 Shopping Centre murders of Victor Rego and Mark Doe.
The men’s deaths, which led to three days of rioting in Bermuda, were the last executions to be carried out under British rule.
Dr Hood said Bermuda had “a lot to teach” the US because of the island’s experience with the death penalty.
He added that it would be one of several countries, such as those in Europe, that have taken a stand against capital punishment in the US for decades.
Dr Hood said Bermuda’s proximity to many states known for using the death penalty could help the message to reach those who needed to hear it most.
He added: “I think a single voice can make a difference. After all, the entire world put an end to apartheid.”
The Reverend Jeff Hood has counselled hundreds of people on death row and has stood in the execution chamber with 12 of them as their spiritual adviser.
He explained his job as being “their best friend” at the end of their lives — something he described as both “quite the honour” and “devastating”.
Dr Hood said: “When you watch someone die, it’s hard — but when you watch someone get murdered, it’s much worse.”
While in Alabama, Dr Hood witnessed the execution of Kenneth Smith in January 2024 by nitrogen gas — the first time in the world that the method had been used.
Smith had been convicted of the contract killing of Elizabeth Sennett, a pastor’s wife, in 1988.
Dr Hood said: “We got into the nitrogen chamber and I see him interacting with these nitrogen monitors.
“I see Kenny in the nitrogen mask and it looks like a firefighter’s mask.”
Dr Hood said that because the technique had never been used before, there was a danger of the nitrogen leaking from the mask and affecting others in the chamber.
He added: “I prayed with him before it started, but you can’t help but think ‘are they about to kill all of us?’ ”
Dr Hood said: “As soon as the nitrogen hits the mask, he starts heaving.
“Every time he’s heaving, the back of his head hits the mask.”
He added: “His eyes and his nose and his mouth all started bleeding and getting into his mask.
“It looked like millions of ants crawling under his skin.”
Dr Hood said that at some point during the execution, Smith gave the sign language symbol for “I love you” to his family who watched.
“It went on for 25 minutes,” he added. “It felt like an eternity.”
Dr Hood said that after this execution and others like it, he suffered nightmares.
He added: “I knew I had a real responsibility to tell the world what happened.”
Dr Hood recognised it was difficult to feel sympathy for those on death row and emphasised that they needed to be held accountable for their actions.
However, he added that an execution by the State was both illogical and immoral.
He said: “That murderer should never get out of prison, but we don’t have to become him to do that.”
He added: “It’s not about whether a person should be stopped, it’s about whether or not we should be the ones to do the killing.
“The way I see it, if a government is comfortable taking a life away, then they are comfortable taking other rights away.”
Dr Hood runs the Execution Intervention Project in the US, which hopes to curb executions and assist the families of those who are killed.
Dr Tanner-Ihm recognised that the majority of those killed by capital punishment in the US were Black men, despite making up about 12 per cent of the country’s population.
He added that it was important to speak up against potential injustice to keep it from spreading to other places.
Dr Tanner-Ihm said: “One thing we’ve seen around the world is that just because something is history doesn’t mean it can’t come back.
“We’re taught linear history and think we’re going to keep progressing, but that’s not how history works. Sometimes it ebbs and flows.”
He added: “We believe that an injustice in one place is an injustice everywhere.”
Bermudians Against the Death Penalty will launch at 10am tomorrow at the Wesley Community Church on Church Street.
Dr Hood said the invitation to attend was open to everyone on the island, including members of the Cabinet who wanted to help try to abolish the death penalty.
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