A man who murdered an elderly couple after breaking into their home was executed by the state of Oklahoma on Thursday. Scott Eizember, 62, was stalking a woman across the street from the residence at the time of the killings, prosecutors said. Following his execution, the couple’s son blasted the state and said that 20 years was “too long for justice to be served.” He was ultimately pronounced dead at 10:15 a.m. after giving a final statement, which included the assertions, “I’m at peace. My conscience is clear, completely.” Prosecutors said that after Patsy and A.J. Cantrell came home unexpectedly on Oct. 18, 2003, Eizember shot and killed Patsy, 70, and bludgeoned A.J., 76, to death with the firearm. He then crossed the street and shot the woman’s teenage son and attacked her mother. Both survived. Eizember then took off in a stolen vehicle, igniting one of the largest manhunts in Oklahoma’s history. Eizember was finally caught after 37 days on the run. He filed an eleventh-hour lawsuit earlier this week seeking to have his spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeffrey Hood, in the execution chamber with him as he received the lethal injection. Prison officials initially denied Hood’s presence over his history of anti-death penalty activism. The decision was reversed on Wednesday after the Cantrell family raised fears that the execution could be delayed over the issue.
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