The Last Face Death Row Inmates See

M cAlester, Oklahoma, looks like an Edward Hopper painting in the 5 a.m.

俄克拉荷马州的麦克莱斯特看起来就像凌晨 5 点爱德华·霍珀 (Edward Hopper) 的画作。

gloom.

阴郁。

An orange cat slinks through a neon puddle outside a gas station; a donut store sign flickers; and then there’s the scene outside Oklahoma State Penitentiary, also known as Big Mac.

一只橙色的猫在加油站外的霓虹灯水洼中偷偷溜过；甜甜圈店的招牌闪烁；然后是俄克拉荷马州立监狱外的场景，也被称为巨无霸。

Underneath the harsh glow of streetlights, the Rev.

在路灯刺眼的光芒下，牧师。

Jeff Hood inspects a spiderweb woven between the trees hemming in the prison, the only thing that McAlester is really known for.

杰夫·胡德（Jeff Hood）检查监狱周围树木之间编织的蜘蛛网，这是麦卡莱斯特唯一真正出名的东西。

Studded with dew, the gossamer strands make a beautiful trap in the predawn darkness.

缀满露珠的蛛丝在黎明前的黑暗中形成了一个美丽的陷阱。

“Don’t wanna mess up his web,” Hood says, his Southern drawl wistful, as the eight-legged architect chitters off.

“我不想弄乱他的网，”胡德用南方拖长的拖长腔调说道，而这位八足建筑师却在喋喋不休。

Hood turns back to what’s unfolding behind the prison walls, where Emmanuel Littlejohn, for whom Hood has been a spiritual adviser for the past two years, could be put to death in just a few hours.

胡德回到监狱围墙后面正在发生的事情，过去两年胡德一直担任他精神顾问的伊曼纽尔·利特尔约翰（Emmanuel Littlejohn）可能会在短短几个小时内被处死。

Death rows all over the country function like that web in Hood’s eyes: complex, sticky, and often indiscriminate — literal death traps.

全国各地的死囚牢房就像胡德眼中的这张网一样：复杂、粘稠，而且往往不分青红皂白——名副其实的死亡陷阱。

A foulmouthed firebrand who doesn’t really care if the men he works with are innocent or not, Hood thinks all people are worthy of love and redemption, the death penalty is evil, and those men tunneling their way into the guts of Big Mac to administer the needle are just as murderous as some of the folks they’re set to kill.

胡德是一个满口脏话的煽动者，他并不真正关心与他一起工作的人是否无辜，他认为所有人都值得爱和救赎，死刑是邪恶的，那些钻进巨无霸内部注射针头的人和他们要杀死的一些人一样凶残。

The Pardon and Parole Board recommended Littlejohn clemency weeks ago, but Gov.

赦免和假释委员会几周前建议对利特尔约翰采取宽大处理，但州长。

Kevin Stitt has yet to tip his hand yes or no. He’s not done praying on it, he says.

凯文·斯蒂特尚未表明是或否。他说，他的祈祷还没有结束。

And so Hood waits, standing sentry outside the prison gates.

胡德就这样在监狱门外放哨，等待着。

He cuts a striking figure, despite his slight stature: half metal roadie with his bald head and long, ZZ Top beard and quirky glasses, half classic priest — his long black robe fluttering in the damp breeze.

尽管身材矮小，但他的身材却引人注目：半金属巡演者，秃头，ZZ Top 长胡子，戴着古怪的眼镜，半经典的牧师——他的黑色长袍在潮湿的微风中飘扬。

“I always like to stand here this early because it makes them have to pass by me and think about what they’re about to do,” Hood says as a shiny black truck carrying prison officials trundles through the gates.

“我总是喜欢这么早站在这里，因为这让他们不得不从我身边经过，思考他们要做什么，”胡德说道，一辆载着监狱官员的闪亮黑色卡车缓缓驶过大门。

He may look stoic, but Hood feels ill.

胡德看上去可能很坚忍，但他却感觉很不舒服。

In just under five hours, he’ll either see Littlejohn beaming in celebration, or strapped to a gurney.

在不到五个小时的时间里，他要么会看到小约翰微笑着庆祝，要么会被绑在轮床上。

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编辑精选 史上 100 部最佳电视剧 21 世纪迄今为止最伟大的 250 张专辑 史上最伟大的 500 张专辑 史上最伟大的 200 位歌手

The public pays precious little attention to the majority of death-row inmates; the world only seems to tune in when a celebrity or organization rallies around a convict they deem innocent.

公众很少关注大多数死囚。只有当名人或组织聚集在他们认为无辜的罪犯周围时，世界似乎才会关注。

Not Hood.

不是胡德。

No case is too small, or man too beyond forgiveness.

事无大小，人无不可宽恕。

“Back when I was growing up, it was all about the Rapture,” he says.

“在我成长的过程中，一切都与狂喜有关，”他说。

“This idea that the world was going to end at any moment — and so there was an urgency.

“世界随时都会终结的想法——因此存在紧迫性。

I don’t feel like that anymore, but that urgency is still there.

我不再有这种感觉了，但那种紧迫感仍然存在。

People are dying.”

人们正在死去。”

In a country built on equal parts brutality and retribution, the death penalty has always been a moral quandary.

在一个建立在残酷和报复同等基础上的国家，死刑一直是一个道德困境。

Initially, the practice was a kind of safeguard against societal collapse.

最初，这种做法是一种防止社会崩溃的措施。

The first penitentiaries weren’t built until the late 1700s, so more extreme sentences were deemed necessary to prevent discord.

第一座监狱直到 1700 年代末才建成，因此为了防止不和，需要采取更极端的刑罚。

As the country developed a prison system, those facing the death penalty were often people of color.

由于该国建立了监狱系统，面临死刑的人往往是有色人种。

“The death penalty is 1,000 percent rooted in racism,” says professor Frank R.

“死刑 1000% 源于种族主义，”教授 Frank R.

Baumgartner , a death-penalty expert at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, citing how Black citizens were routinely executed in the past, first by first slave catchers and then by the Ku Klux Klan.

北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校的死刑专家鲍姆加特纳列举了过去黑人公民被处决的例行公事，首先是由奴隶捕手，然后是三K党。

Later, the system added an air of procedure with the 1923 Supreme Court case Moore v.

后来，该系统在 1923 年最高法院的“摩尔诉美国”案中增添了一种程序氛围。

Dempsey , which came on the heels of a 1919 Arkansas race riot where white “vigilantes” massacred at least 200 Black people following the death of a white man.

登普西事件发生在 1919 年阿肯色州种族骚乱之后，一名白人死亡后，白人“义务警员”屠杀了至少 200 名黑人。

After six Black men were quickly sentenced to death, the appeal made its way to the highest court, which ruled that federal courts could step in to ensure that defendants receive a fair trial at the state level.

在六名黑人迅速被判处死刑后，上诉提交至最高法院，最高法院裁定联邦法院可以介入，以确保被告在州一级得到公平的审判。

However, we’re still under the shadow of racism.

然而，我们仍然处于种族主义的阴影之下。

“In the modern era, when executions have been carried out exclusively for murder , 75 percent of the cases involve the murder of white victims, even though about half of all homicide victims in America are Black,” says Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center .

死刑信息中心执行主任罗宾·马赫 (Robin Maher) 表示：“在现代，当处决专门针对谋杀时，75% 的案件涉及白人受害者的谋杀，尽管美国所有凶杀案受害者中约有一半是黑人。”

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The 1960s ushered in debates about the constitutionality of the federal death penalty, due, in part, to a postwar sense of moral superiority.

20 世纪 60 年代引发了关于联邦死刑是否合宪的争论，部分原因是战后的道德优越感。

And by 1972, the Supreme Court put a pause to the practice with Furman v.

到了 1972 年，最高法院在“弗曼诉美国”案中暂停了这种做法。

Georgia , ruling that it was “capricious and arbitrary,” after three inmates sued the state due to their unequal sentencing.

在三名囚犯因判决不平等而起诉该州后，佐治亚州裁定这是“反复无常和任意的”。

(They were all sentenced to death, one for murder, two for rape.) That ruling, however, led states to rewrite their own statutes, and made quick work of establishing their own death rows — particularly in the South.

（他们都被判处死刑，一人因谋杀，两人因强奸。）然而，这一裁决导致各州重写了自己的法规，并迅速建立了自己的死囚区——特别是在南方。

Utah resident Gary Gilmore was the first to be executed following this brief moratorium after murdering a gas-station employee and a motel manager in 1976.

犹他州居民加里·吉尔摩 (Gary Gilmore) 于 1976 年谋杀了一名加油站员工和一名汽车旅馆经理，成为短暂暂停执行死刑后第一个被处决的人。

In lieu of a lengthy appeals process, Gilmore opted for a firing squad and was executed in 1977.

吉尔摩没有经历漫长的上诉程序，而是选择行刑，并于 1977 年被处决。

The papers hailed his death as a “grisly circus.”

报纸称赞他的死是“可怕的马戏团”。

Despite the ire that Gilmore’s death raised, today, the U.S. practices the death penalty at both the state and federal level.

尽管吉尔摩的死引起了人们的愤怒，但今天，美国在州和联邦层面都实行死刑。

The federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988 (for crimes including treason and murder), while 27 states boast death rows teeming with more than 2,000 inmates.

1988 年，联邦恢复了死刑（针对叛国罪和谋杀罪），而 27 个州的死囚牢房里关押着 2,000 多名囚犯。

As laws have changed, though, folks have continued to grapple over the humanity of the practice: In 1936, 59 percent of citizens were in favor of the death penalty for convicted murderers, while today that number has dropped to 47 percent .

然而，随着法律的变化，人们继续争论这种做法的人性：1936年，59%的公民赞成对被定罪的杀人犯判处死刑，而今天这个数字已经下降到47%。

And that reluctance and confusion arises, in part, because of just how random the death penalty can be.

这种不情愿和困惑的出现，部分是因为死刑的随意性。

Baumgartner attributes the recent drop in popularity, though, to the idea that the U.S. could be killing innocent people, which became easier to argue in the wake of DNA technology.

不过，鲍姆加特纳将最近受欢迎程度的下降归因于美国可能杀害无辜人民的观点，随着 DNA 技术的出现，这种观点变得更容易争论。

This change in sentiment ushered in organizations like the Innocence Project and celebrity abolitionists like Sister Helen Prejean , a nun and spiritual adviser who immortalized her work in the 1993 book Dead Man Walking.

这种情绪的转变催生了“无罪计划”等组织和海伦·普雷让修女等名人废奴主义者，她是一位修女兼精神顾问，她在 1993 年出版的《死人行走》一书中使自己的工作永垂不朽。

Unlike Prejean, though, Hood doesn’t just advocate for women and men who maintain their innocence — instead, he chooses to fight for those the system, and the world, forgot: the men who may not be innocent, that are anything but innocent, who he still believes have a right to live.

然而，与普雷让不同的是，胡德不仅仅倡导那些保持清白的女性和男性——相反，他选择为那些被体制和世界遗忘的人而战：那些可能不无辜的人，那些绝不是无辜的人，他仍然相信他们有生存的权利。

Back in the Nineties, when Hood, 41, was a God-fearing teen in South Atlanta, Georgia, he was more busy trying to save his own soul than anyone else’s.

早在九十年代，41 岁的胡德还是佐治亚州南亚特兰大的一名敬畏上帝的青少年，他比任何人都更忙于拯救自己的灵魂。

“Growing up in this evangelical Christian world, where you’re always scared of the end of the world, I remember, for days, I would just say the sinners’ prayer over and over and over again to make sure that I was saved,” he says.

“在这个福音派基督教世界长大，你总是害怕世界末日，我记得，几天来，我只是一遍又一遍地念罪人祈祷，以确保我得救，”他说。

“So there was a hyper-religiosity that I grew up with — and it was terrifying.”

“所以我从小就有一种极度的宗教信仰——这很可怕。”

Hood was deep in that hyper-religious realm for years, though — becoming ordained at just 22 as a Southern Baptist minister.

不过，胡德在这个超级宗教领域深耕多年，年仅 22 岁就被任命为美南浸信会牧师。

(In 2022, he was reordained as Catholic — “Old Catholic,” as he specifies on his website .) It was at the conservative Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, though, where Hood started shaking off the shackles of his childhood religiosity.

（2022 年，他被重新任命为天主教徒——正如他在网站上所指出的那样，“老天主教徒”。）不过，正是在肯塔基州路易斯维尔保守的美南浸信会神学院，胡德开始摆脱童年宗教信仰的束缚。

His old mentor called him from Atlanta — the same man who had helped him get ordained the year before.

他的老导师从亚特兰大给他打电话——就是前一年帮助他出家的那个人。

He was dying of lung cancer, he said, and wanted to say goodbye.

他说，他死于肺癌，想要告别。

So Hood piled into his car and drove all night to visit the dying 75-year-old.

于是胡德钻进车里，连夜开车去探望这位垂死的 75 岁老人。

When Hood finally clasped the man’s papery hand in his, his mentor told him softly, “I’m gay, and I always have been.” He died soon thereafter.

当胡德最终握住这个男人纸一样的手时，他的导师轻声告诉他：“我是同性恋，而且一直都是。”此后不久他就去世了。

“That was earth-shattering for me,” Hood says.

“这对我来说是惊天动地的，”胡德说。

“I talk about it like the queer Jesus saved my soul.

“我谈论这件事就像酷儿耶稣拯救了我的灵魂一样。

All of a sudden something happened within me that transformed me.

突然之间，我内心发生了一些事情，改变了我。

It really felt like I got saved — from this sort of backwards thinking and trying to compartmentalize people and trying to suffocate people with my own ideations of what they were supposed to be.”

我真的感觉自己被拯救了——摆脱了这种倒退的思维，试图将人们区分开来，并试图用我自己对他们应该是什么样子的想法来窒息他们。”

From then on, Hood set about forging his own relationship with faith, marrying it with the activism that has come to shape his life.

从那时起，胡德开始建立自己与信仰的关系，并将其与塑造他生活的行动主义结合起来。

As he continued to add more degrees to his résumé, Hood became involved in the plight of Troy Davis, a Black man who was sentenced to death for shooting and killing a police officer in 1989.

随着胡德继续在自己的简历中添加更多学位，胡德开始卷入特洛伊·戴维斯的困境，特洛伊·戴维斯是一位黑人，他在 1989 年因枪杀一名警察而被判处死刑。

By the time his scheduled execution rolled around in 2011, Davis had an army of abolitionists at his back — including Hood and his wife, Emily, whom he married that year.

到 2011 年按计划执行死刑时，戴维斯已经有了一大群废奴主义者支持，其中包括胡德和他当年结婚的妻子艾米丽。

It would be a while, though, before Hood would enter the death chamber.

不过，胡德还需要一段时间才能进入死刑室。

A year after Davis took his last breath, he and Emily settled in Texas, after bouncing around between Georgia and Mississippi for school and work — and having their first set of twins (they’d later welcome another pair).

戴维斯咽下最后一口气一年后，他和艾米丽在佐治亚州和密西西比州之间来回上学和工作，并在德克萨斯州定居下来，并生下了他们的第一对双胞胎（他们后来又迎来了另一对）。

There, Hood threw himself into activism: campaigning for local churches to be more accepting of LGBTQ+ parishioners, getting arrested outside the White House in 2014 while protesting deportations, and putting together a 2016 Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas that turned tragic when an Army vet killed five police officers.

在那里，胡德投身于激进主义活动：推动当地教会更多地接受 LGBTQ+ 教区居民，2014 年在抗议驱逐出境时在白宫外被捕，并于 2016 年在达拉斯组织了一次“黑人生命也是命”抗议活动，当一名退伍军人杀害了五名警察时，这场抗议活动变成了悲剧。

That incident still haunts Hood, who organized the action after the police shooting of two unarmed Black men.

这起事件至今仍困扰着胡德，他在警察射杀两名手无寸铁的黑人男子后组织了这次行动。

He still remembers when the bullets started flying on that hot July night, how he grabbed his chest, looking for blood.

他仍然记得在那个炎热的七月夜晚，当子弹开始飞舞时，他如何捂住胸口，寻找血迹。

He recalls the horror as he realized what was unfolding there on the street as 25-year-old Micah Johnson fired into the crowd, before he was ultimately killed by law enforcement.

当 25 岁的米卡·约翰逊 (Micah Johnson) 向人群开枪时，他意识到街上发生了什么事，最终被执法部门击毙，他回忆起当时的恐怖情景。

“How could anyone fathom any of it?

“怎么会有人理解其中的任何内容呢？

I was horrified,” he says.

我很害怕，”他说。

“I couldn’t breathe.

“我无法呼吸。

I still can’t.

我还是不行。

The shots fired that night are still lodged in my soul.

那天晚上的枪声至今还留在我的灵魂里。

I quickly realized that the work of love and justice is a banishment from any semblance of clarity.

我很快意识到，爱与正义的工作是一种表面上的清晰的驱逐。

The spiritual requirement to stand with all of your neighbors remains a nearly impossible burden.

与所有邻居站在一起的精神要求仍然是一个几乎不可能的负担。

Yet, it is the burden of lived faith.”

然而，这是生活信仰的负担。”

Hood may have already been a rabble-rouser at this point in his activist journey, but he effectively made himself an enemy to some after a clip of him at the protest before the shooting aired on Fox News where he raged about the state of race in America: “God damn white America!

胡德在他的激进主义旅程中可能已经是一个煽动者，但在福克斯新闻播出了他在枪击事件前的抗议活动中的一段视频后，他实际上让自己成为了一些人的敌人，他对美国的种族状况感到愤怒：“该死的美国白人！

White America is a fucking lie!” The right wouldn’t be his only detractors, as it turned out — especially after he started working with men most would dismiss as monsters.

美国白人就是一个该死的谎言！”事实证明，右翼并不是他唯一的批评者——尤其是在他开始与大多数人认为是怪物的人一起工作之后。

Hood calls them his “guys,” the men our country wants to kill.

胡德称他们为他的“人”，是我们国家想要杀死的人。

He’s written books with them, hung their photos in his “fortress of solitude” (a.k.a.

他和他们一起写书，把他们的照片挂在他的“孤独堡垒”（又名“孤独堡垒”）里。

his home office), and even let them talk to his five kids — within reason.

他的家庭办公室），甚至让他们在合理的范围内与他的五个孩子交谈。

And although Hood says he loves them all, some he loves for who they are, some in spite of it.

尽管胡德说他爱他们所有人，但有些他爱的是他们本来的样子，有些则尽管如此。

Hood became a legally recognized spiritual adviser in 2022 after the Supreme Court ruled that folks on death row could have one accompany them to the death chamber; in 2021, an inmate named John Ramirez sued to have his longtime pastor present at his execution.

2022 年，最高法院裁定死囚可以有人陪伴进入死刑室，胡德因此成为法律认可的精神顾问； 2021 年，一名名叫约翰·拉米雷斯 (John Ramirez) 的囚犯提起诉讼，要求长期担任他职务的牧师在执行死刑时在场。

Still, Hood began talking to incarcerated men years before that — after he found himself meditating on Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:43: “I was in prison and you didn’t visit me.”

尽管如此，胡德早在几年前就开始与被监禁的人交谈——在他发现自己在思考耶稣在马太福音 25:43 中的话：“我在监狱里，你们没有探望我。”

After sending letters to a cadre of men sentenced to death in 2011, it was trial and error at first; some men asked for money, others for photos of his wife (a definite no-go).

2011年给一名被判处死刑的干部写信后，一开始是反复试验；有些男人要钱，另一些则要他妻子的照片（绝对不行）。

There were tender moments, sure — like with Juan Garcia, who prayed with Hood before his 2015 execution.

当然，也有一些温柔的时刻——比如胡德·加西亚 (Juan Garcia)，他在 2015 年胡德被处决前与他一起祈祷。

And then there were incidents that would test even the most patient religious men, like Hood’s dealings with Kerry Allen, who raped and murdered his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter in 2000.

还有一些事件甚至会考验最有耐心的宗教人士，比如胡德与克里·艾伦的交易，克里·艾伦在 2000 年强奸并谋杀了他女朋友两岁的女儿。

“I’ve always tried not to look these guys up before I go and talk to them.

“在我去和他们交谈之前，我总是尽量不去找他们。

I want to give them a chance to be known as something other than a serial killer or rapist,” Hood says.

我想给他们一个机会，让他们不再被称为连环杀手或强奸犯，”胡德说。

He still gets chills, however, when he remembers meeting Allen on Texas’ death row.

然而，当他想起在德克萨斯州的死囚牢房里见到艾伦时，他仍然感到不寒而栗。

“I’m sitting there talking to him, and he’s like, really into clowns,” Hood says.

“我坐在那里和他说话，他就像真的很喜欢小丑，”胡德说。

“So I’m sitting there, taking all this shit in.” That “shit” being what he did to the child — and past misdeeds..

“所以我坐在那里，接受所有这些狗屎。”那“狗屎”就是他对孩子所做的事——以及过去的恶行。

Hood was gobsmacked, but he told himself that God had called on him to listen to men like Allen, so he did just that.

胡德大吃一惊，但他告诉自己，上帝呼召他倾听像艾伦这样的人的声音，所以他就这么做了。

Even after Allen crossed the line.

即使在艾伦越线之后。

“I remember I asked him before I left, ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ And he said, ‘You can send me a picture of your kids,’” Hood recalls.

“我记得在离开之前我问他，‘我能为你做点什么吗？’他说，‘你可以给我发一张你孩子的照片，’”胡德回忆道。

“And I just remember just being like, ‘Oh, shit.

“我只记得当时的感觉是，‘哦，该死。

I’m in pretty deep now, man, what the fuck?’” Still, he didn’t give up on the man.

我现在已经陷入困境了，伙计，这到底是怎么回事？’”尽管如此，他并没有放弃这个男人。

“We communicated back and forth for a number of months.

“我们来回沟通了好几个月。

He just sort of eventually checked out mentally,” Hood says.

他只是最终在精神上检查了一下，”胡德说。

“I do my best to never let evil statements or actions get the last word.” Allen has yet to be executed.

“我尽力不让邪恶的言论或行为占上风。”艾伦尚未被处决。

If even the most twisted of incarcerated men couldn’t deter Hood from his calling, neither could the cops, who arrested him in 2016 after he crossed a police line at a protest outside the execution of another Texas inmate.

如果说即使是最变态的被监禁者都无法阻止胡德发出呼吁，那么警察也无法阻止胡德。2016 年，胡德在处决另一名德克萨斯州囚犯外的一次抗议活动中越过警戒线后，警察逮捕了他。

(He got one year of probation.) And the state itself couldn’t hold him back, as it turned out, which Oklahoma tried to do when Scott Eizember was set to die in 2023.

（他获得了一年的缓刑。）事实证明，州政府本身无法阻止他，当斯科特·艾泽伯 (Scott Eizember) 将于 2023 年去世时，俄克拉荷马州试图这样做。

According to prosecutors , Eizember broke into the home of Patsy and A.J.

据检察官称，Eizember 闯入了 Patsy 和 A.J. 的家。

Cantrell, an elderly couple, in Depew, Oklahoma, in 2003.

2003 年，俄克拉荷马州迪皮尤的一对老年夫妇坎特雷尔。

His ex-girlfriend lived across the street, and he planned to hide there and wait for her.

他的前女友就住在街对面，他打算躲在那里等她。

When the two returned home, surprising him, Eizember killed Patsy with the couple’s shotgun and beat A.J.

当两人回到家时，令他大吃一惊的是，艾泽姆伯用夫妻俩的猎枪杀死了帕西，并殴打了 A.J.

Cantrell to death with it.

坎特雷尔因此而死。

It was a crime that horrified the no-stoplight town, leading to one of the longest manhunts in Oklahoma history.

这起犯罪事件震惊了这个没有红绿灯的小镇，导致了俄克拉荷马州历史上最长的搜捕行动之一。

Hood found Eizember a mercurial man, who could be in turn cruel and thankful, generous and spiteful.

胡德发现艾森伯是一个善变的人，他既可能残酷，也可能心怀感恩，也可能慷慨大方，也可能充满恶意。

“People romanticize these relationships,” Hood says.

“人们把这些关系浪漫化，”胡德说。

“[But] I’m giving myself over to a certain level of abuse sometimes.

“[但是]有时我会让自己遭受一定程度的虐待。

Eizember, he would scream.

艾森伯，他会尖叫。

He would say, ‘Fuck you, you sack of shit.’ And it’s like, damn, this shit ain’t like the movies.”

他会说，‘操你，你这个混蛋。’这就好像，该死，这狗屎不像电影。”

Still, Hood stood by Eizember until the Oklahoma Department of Corrections tried to bar him from attending the execution and aired him out in the press, telling the AP : “The spiritual adviser in this case has been arrested multiple times for such outbursts in other states, demonstrating a blatant disregard for the experiences of victims’ families and the solemnity of the process.” That rankled Hood.

尽管如此，胡德仍然支持艾泽姆伯，直到俄克拉荷马州惩教局试图阻止他参加行刑，并向媒体曝光了他的情况，胡德告诉美联社：“本案中的精神顾问在其他州曾多次因此类爆发而被捕，这表明他公然无视受害者家属的经历和整个过程的庄严性。”这激怒了胡德。

He’d been arrested as part of peaceful protests, and it’s not like he was going to leap on the gurney and wrench the needle from the executioner’s hands.

他是在和平抗议活动中被捕的，他不会跳上轮床，从刽子手手中夺走针头。

As for “outbursts,” Hood says he’s never done anything untoward in the death chamber.

至于“爆发”，胡德说他从未在死刑室里做过任何不正当的事情。

In the end, Hood sued the DOC and their spokesperson for defamation (that case was later dismissed), as well as the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for access to the chamber; he succeeded.

最后，胡德起诉了商务部及其发言人诽谤（该案后来被驳回），并起诉俄克拉荷马州惩教局进入该室；他成功了。

And so he was there for Eizember during his final moments, when, Hood says, the incarcerated man told Hood he loved him.

因此，胡德说，在艾泽姆的最后时刻，他一直在他身边，当时被监禁的人告诉胡德他爱他。

“When we got into the execution chamber, we were woven together, and when they executed him, it was like someone ripped the stitching apart,” Hood recalls.

“当我们进入行刑室时，我们被编织在一起，当他们处决他时，就像有人撕开了缝合线，”胡德回忆道。

“There are times when I was terrified of Scott …

“有时候我很害怕斯科特……

but it’s complicated, the evil and the beauty that dance in all of us.”

但这很复杂，邪恶与美丽在我们所有人身上共舞。”

For all his sins, Eizember was the one who led Hood to Emmanuel Littlejohn in 2022.

尽管犯下种种罪过，艾泽姆伯还是在 2022 年将胡德引向了伊曼纽尔·利特尔约翰 (Emmanuel Littlejohn)。

Also incarcerated at Big Mac, the aging and infirm Littlejohn wasn’t getting that many letters, Eizember told Hood.

艾森伯告诉胡德，同样被关押在巨无霸监狱的年老体弱的小约翰并没有收到那么多信件。

Maybe he could be one of his guys?

也许他可以成为他的人之一？

Littlejohn had been behind bars for nearly 30 years at this point; he was sentenced to death for the 1992 murder of convenience-store owner Kenneth Meers in a robbery gone wrong.

此时，利特尔约翰已入狱近 30 年。 1992 年，他因抢劫谋杀便利店老板肯尼思·米尔斯 (Kenneth Meers) 而被判处死刑。

Littlejohn maintained his innocence, though, claiming that his co-conspirator Glenn Bethany pulled the trigger.

不过，利特尔约翰坚称自己无罪，声称是他的同谋格伦·贝瑟尼扣动了扳机。

Bethany, for his part, got life in prison.

贝瑟尼则被判终身监禁。

(Bethany did not respond to my request for comment.)

（贝瑟尼没有回应我的评论请求。）

As usual, though, Hood was more interested in the man than the crime, and he found a kindred spirit in Littlejohn.

不过，和往常一样，胡德对这个人比对犯罪更感兴趣，他在利特尔约翰身上找到了志趣相投的人。

The first time they got on the phone, Littlejohn immediately started teasing him.

他们第一次通电话时，利特尔约翰立即开始取笑他。

Hood was giving him the spiel about his work, when the other man cut in.

胡德正在向他滔滔不绝地讲述自己的工作，这时另一个人插嘴了。

“Who are you supposed to be?” he asked in his deep, laconic drawl.

“你应该是谁？”他用低沉而简洁的拖腔问道。

Hood responded: “We’re about to figure that out together.” His family was similarly skeptical at first.

胡德回应道：“我们将共同解决这个问题。”他的家人起初也同样持怀疑态度。

“Our first impression of Jeff was, why does this guy have a dress on and why does he have that long beard?

“我们对杰夫的第一印象是，这家伙为什么穿着衣服，为什么留那么长的胡子？

Is he like a sensei or something?” Littlejohn’s niece, Blessing Sanders, says.

他是像老师还是什么吗？”小约翰的侄女布莱辛·桑德斯说道。

Soon, though, the two formed a close bond, laughing, talking about their kids, and praying.

不过很快，两人就建立了密切的联系，有说有笑，谈论他们的孩子，并祈祷。

And it continued that way for the months that followed, as Hood grew closer with Littlejohn’s mother, Ceily Mason, and his sister, Augustina Littlejohn — as he watched more and more men die.

在接下来的几个月里，这种情况一直持续着，随着胡德与利特尔约翰的母亲西莉·梅森和他的妹妹奥古斯蒂娜·利特尔约翰的关系越来越密切，他看着越来越多的人死去。

There was Anthony Sanchez in September 2023, whose hands turned blue after the Oklahoma executioner administered the needle.

2023 年 9 月，安东尼·桑切斯 (Anthony Sanchez) 在俄克拉荷马州刽子手注射针后双手变蓝。

And then there was Kenneth Smith , the first person to be executed in the U.S. using nitrogen gas — a dicey, untested method that could have put Hood at risk if there were to be a leak.

然后是肯尼思·史密斯，他是美国第一个使用氮气处决的人——这是一种冒险的、未经测试的方法，如果发生泄漏，胡德可能会面临危险。

Hood watched Smith — who had become his close friend — gasping for breath like a goldfish out of water in a way that will haunt the reverend forever.

胡德看着史密斯——他已经成为他的密友——像金鱼离开水一样喘着粗气，这种感觉将永远困扰着牧师。

“The moral pain of the entire experience was so great that I’d wished that I’d been the one who’d been suffocated,” he says.

“整个经历给我带来的道德痛苦是如此巨大，以至于我希望自己就是那个被窒息的人，”他说。

The sun beats down on Jeff Hood’s shaved head as he runs the mower over the shaggy front yard of his Little Rock, Arkansas, home.

杰夫·胡德在阿肯色州小石城的家中，在杂乱的前院上开着割草机，阳光照在他剃光的头上。

His family moved out here a while back for Emily’s career, and to escape the “threats and bullshit” they faced in Texas due to Hood’s work.

不久前，他的家人为了艾米丽的事业搬到了这里，并逃离了他们在德克萨斯州因胡德的工作而面临的“威胁和胡言乱语”。

It’s a rare moment of peace from the din of five small kids — and from his guys calling him from noisy prisons at all hours of the day.

这是一个难得的平静时刻，远离了五个小孩的喧闹声，也听见了他的伙计们全天从喧闹的监狱里给他打电话的声音。

As he pauses to wipe the sweat from his brow, Hood spies a brown GMC pickup idling in front of his house, a 70-something white man with a shaved head and ripped white T-shirt mean-mugging him from the front seat.

当胡德停下来擦额头上的汗水时，他发现一辆棕色的 GMC 皮卡在他家门前空转，一名 70 多岁的白人剃着光头，穿着撕破的白色 T 恤，卑鄙地从前座上抢劫了他。

“Dr. Hood,” the man calls — and the reverend tenses.

“胡德博士，”那人喊道，牧师的语气变得紧张起来。

In his experience, when people get overly formal, things are about to go sideways.

根据他的经验，当人们变得过于正式时，事情就会出岔子。

The man glares back.

男人回瞪了一眼。

“I’m going to take you out.

“我要带你出去。

Soon,” he growls, shooting Hood a finger gun, and speeds away.

很快，”他咆哮道，用手指枪向胡德射击，然后加速离开。

It seems the bullshit has found him once again.

看来这个废话又找到了他。

Every time Hood’s involved in a high-profile case, the crazies come out, threatening to do to him what his guys have done to others.

每当胡德卷入一件引人注目的案件时，疯子就会出来，威胁要对他做他的手下对别人所做的事情。

The irony is not lost on Hood.

胡德身上也充满了讽刺意味。

Although he’s not keen on the cops, Hood calls the police, who come by to take his statement as his gaggle of kids swing from the porch like monkeys, eyeing the officer’s notepad.

尽管胡德并不热衷于警察，但他还是报了警，警察过来接受他的陈述，而他的一群孩子像猴子一样从门廊上荡来荡去，盯着警察的记事本。

Hood doesn’t hide much from his kids — not his job or his guys or the downsides to both.

胡德并没有对他的孩子们隐瞒太多——不是他的工作、他的队友，也不是两者的缺点。

“They’re very aware [of the death threats], and they’re also aware that people have said they want to kill them,” he says.

“他们非常清楚[死亡威胁]，而且他们也意识到人们说他们想杀死他们，”他说。

“I don’t have this mentality of, ‘I have to protect them from all this.’ The best way to protect them is to make them aware.”

“我没有这种心态，‘我必须保护他们免受这一切的影响。’保护他们的最好方法就是让他们意识到。”

He does, though, pick and choose who speaks to his kids and how.

不过，他确实会挑选谁和他的孩子说话以及如何说话。

The brainy pharmacist Bart Johnson on Alabama’s death row delights in doing Simpsons impressions for Hood’s cartoon-obsessed son.

阿拉巴马州死囚牢房里聪明的药剂师巴特·约翰逊喜欢为胡德痴迷于卡通的儿子制作辛普森一家的印模。

And Hood never tells the kids that these men are scheduled to die, just that he’s trying to save them.

胡德从来没有告诉孩子们这些人注定要死，只是说他想拯救他们。

So when Littlejohn’s Sept.

所以当小约翰的九月。

26 date starts approaching, Hood’s brood is aware, at least in some capacity, why this man is calling their dad every night at eight.

26 号的日期即将到来，胡德的孩子们至少在某种程度上知道，为什么这个男人每天晚上八点给他们的父亲打电话。

He tries to keep them shielded from the particulars, though.

不过，他试图不让他们了解细节。

“It takes me probably a month to six weeks to get back to functioning after one of these executions,” Hood says, already worried about the toll this will take on his psyche — how he will weather it all.

“在其中一次处决之后，我可能需要一个月到六周的时间才能恢复正常运作，”胡德说，他已经担心这会给他的精神造成损失——他将如何度过这一切。

“Imagine that every night you turned into a mermaid and you have all of these crazy experiences as a mermaid, and then you come back to life, and there’s nobody to talk to because nobody knows the [what] hell you’re talking about.

“想象一下，每天晚上你变成了一条美人鱼，作为美人鱼你经历了所有这些疯狂的经历，然后你复活了，没有人可以说话，因为没有人知道你在说什么。

And if you talk about it too much, they think you’re crazy as shit.”

如果你谈论太多，他们会认为你疯了。”

Hood’s certainly feeling crazy when he wakes up in an austere hotel with a view of a highway that leads to McAlester, Oklahoma, on Aug.

8 月 17 日，当胡德在一家朴素的酒店醒来，看到一条通往俄克拉荷马州麦卡莱斯特的高速公路时，他肯定感到疯狂。

7.

7.

It seems like a sign that his car alarm starts bleating in the parking lot outside the hotel when he fumbles the key.

这似乎是一个迹象，表明当他摸索钥匙时，酒店外停车场的汽车警报器开始鸣响。

When he finally pulls up in front of the low-slung, dun-colored Pardon and Parole Board building in Oklahoma City, Hood checks his reflection in the rearview.

当胡德最终把车停在俄克拉荷马城低矮、暗褐色的赦免和假释委员会大楼前时，他检查了后视镜中自己的倒影。

“Should’ve checked those bags at the gate,” he mutters.

“应该在门口检查那些行李，”他嘀咕道。

Hood has his battle gear on — long robe, work boots, battered Bible — but he’s been in attack mode for days.

胡德穿着他的战斗装备——长袍、工作靴、破旧的圣经——但他已经处于攻击模式好几天了。

Earlier, he got word from Littlejohn’s lawyers that the prosecution may be targeting him during the clemency hearing, claiming that he’s an attention seeker, a charlatan.

早些时候，他从利特尔约翰的律师那里得知，检方可能会在特赦听证会上针对他，声称他是一个寻求关注的江湖骗子。

He’s used to those accusations, but they needle him all the same.

他已经习惯了这些指控，但这些指控仍然让他感到刺痛。

In the past, he’s been accused of doing this for money, for fame, for anything other than God.

过去，他被指控这样做是为了金钱、名誉，或者是为了上帝以外的任何东西。

He’s been accused of giving men shoddy legal advice, of going rogue.

他被指控向人们提供劣质的法律建议，并且变得流氓。

His bank account is a sieve, he says, since he doesn’t make any money off his activism.

他说，他的银行账户就像一个筛子，因为他并没有从他的活动中赚到任何钱。

And he’s helped guys ditch their lawyers but only at their request, when the lawyers haven’t been in contact with their clients for years.

他还帮助人们抛弃了他们的律师，但只是在他们的要求下，而律师已经多年没有与他们的客户联系了。

Still, he’s got his supporters to keep him going — even ones he’s found in the most unlikely of places.

尽管如此，他仍然有支持者让他继续前进——即使是他在最不可能的地方找到的支持者。

Take Lindsey Barnett, the granddaughter of Scott Eizember’s victims.

以斯科特·艾泽伯（Scott Eizember）受害者的孙女林赛·巴尼特（Lindsey Barnett）为例。

Barnett was staunchly pro-death penalty until she witnessed Eizember’s execution, which she describes as “cold and vile and disgusting.” After Eizember took his last breath, she flagged Hood down outside the gates of Big Mac.

巴内特一直坚定支持死刑，直到她亲眼目睹了艾泽伯的处决，她形容这是“冷酷、卑鄙和恶心”。艾森伯咽下最后一口气后，她在巨无霸大门外示意胡德停下来。

They became fast friends.

他们成了好朋友。

“When I saw him in the execution chamber with Scott, I could tell in my heart he was not there for any other reason other than he was trying to save someone’s soul,” she says.

“当我看到他和斯科特一起在行刑室时，我心里清楚，除了试图拯救某人的灵魂之外，他不在那里有任何其他原因，”她说。

Fellow abolitionist Alli Sullivan, Death Penalty Action’s communications coordinator, also initially butted heads with Hood before forming a bond.

死刑行动通讯协调员、废奴主义者艾莉·沙利文最初也与胡德发生过冲突，后来才建立了联系。

In 2022, Sullivan was campaigning hard for Melissa Lucio, who was given the death penalty in 2008 for killing her two-year-old daughter, despite claims of innocence.

2022 年，沙利文为梅丽莎·卢西奥 (Melissa Lucio) 努力竞选，她在 2008 年因杀害自己两岁的女儿而被判处死刑，尽管她声称自己无罪。

Hood was irritated, she says, because he thought that the organization was ignoring other executions in favor of a cause célèbre.

她说，胡德很生气，因为他认为该组织为了支持一项轰动的事业而忽视了其他处决。

“He just made it known that that bothered him,” Sullivan says.

“他只是让大家知道这让他很困扰，”沙利文说。

“And so that was our first interaction.

“这就是我们的第一次互动。

It was a wonky interaction, but very soon thereafter we started working together and getting really close.”

这是一次不稳定的互动，但很快我们就开始合作并变得非常亲密。”

And then there’s his guys, like Bart Johnson, who does the Simpsons impressions.

然后是他的手下，比如巴特·约翰逊（Bart Johnson），他负责模仿辛普森一家。

“You see his heart,” Johnson says of Hood.

“你看到他的心，”约翰逊谈到胡德时说道。

And Michael Bane, on Tennessee’s death row, who counts Hood as one of his best friends.

田纳西州死囚区的迈克尔·贝恩 (Michael Bane) 将胡德视为他最好的朋友之一。

“There’s nobody like Jeff, as far as I’m concerned.

“就我而言，没有人能像杰夫那样。

I mean, nobody,” he says.

我的意思是，没有人，”他说。

“He’s gonna listen to you.

“他会听你的。

He’s gonna tell you what he thinks — whether you like what he says or not.”

他会告诉你他的想法——无论你喜欢与否。”

So, yes, that conference room may be full of people who think Hood is a fraud, but he has work to do.

所以，是的，那个会议室可能挤满了认为胡德是骗子的人，但他有工作要做。

For Littlejohn.

对于小约翰来说。

For himself.

为了他自己。

So he steels himself, taking a seat in the second row next to Littlejohn’s mom, Ceily.

于是他鼓起勇气，在第二排小约翰的妈妈西莉旁边坐下。

Littlejohn’s lawyers take the stand first, recounting the sad story of Littlejohn’s life.

小约翰的律师首先出庭，讲述了小约翰一生的悲惨故事。

His mom was an addict who had him at just 15; she said he was “ruined from the womb” due to her drug use.

他的妈妈是个瘾君子，他在 15 岁的时候就生下了他。她说，由于她吸毒，他“从子宫里就被毁了”。

They speak of how his grandmother’s house was riddled with gambling, prostitution, and drugs — and how Littlejohn watched his father abuse his mother.

他们讲述了他祖母的房子如何充斥着赌博、卖淫和毒品，以及利特尔约翰如何看着他的父亲虐待他的母亲。

They end by reflecting on the man’s current sorry state: He’s wheelchair-bound after a series of strokes, disabled by a white matter disease that only continues to eat away at him.

最后，他们反思了这名男子目前的悲惨状况：在一系列中风后，他只能坐在轮椅上，并因白质疾病而致残，这种疾病只会继续侵蚀他。

Through it all, Hood holds Ceily’s hand tight.

自始至终，胡德都紧紧握住西莉的手。

The worst isn’t over, though.

不过，最糟糕的情况还没有结束。

When the prosecution takes the floor, they unleash on Littlejohn, spelling out every bad thing he’d ever done.

当检方发言时，他们向利特尔约翰发起了攻击，详细说明了他做过的每一件坏事。

They share prison conversations between Littlejohn and his family where he jokes that while he hadn’t killed Kenneth Meers, he wishes he had — and a trial excerpt where he threatens Meers’ brother: “I killed the motherfucker, I’ll kill you.”

他们分享了利特尔约翰和他家人之间的监狱谈话，他开玩笑说，虽然他没有杀了肯尼思·梅尔斯，但他希望自己杀了——在审判摘录中，他威胁梅尔斯的兄弟：“我杀了那个混蛋，我会杀了你。”

That same brother, Bill, takes the stand next, a hulking man who nevertheless looks small surrounded by his family.

接下来是同一个兄弟比尔，他是一个身材魁梧的男人，但在家人的簇拥下，他看起来很小。

“This tragedy has had such a horrible influence on so many people, we struggle to move on, especially myself,” he says, his voice shaking.

“这场悲剧对很多人产生了如此可怕的影响，我们努力继续前进，尤其是我自己，”他声音颤抖地说。

“The anger is unbelievable.…

“这种愤怒令人难以置信......

I felt we’ve been on lockdown all these years.” (Bill did not respond to repeated requests for comment.)

我觉得这些年来我们一直处于封锁状态。” （比尔没有回应多次的置评请求。）

Hood just sits there, taking it all in as the prosecution sneers at his “so-called media campaign.” “This shit is over,” he thinks.

胡德只是坐在那里，接受这一切，而检方则嘲笑他的“所谓的媒体宣传活动”。 “这该死的事情结束了，”他想。

“Might as well go ahead and have the execution tomorrow, because we didn’t get no damn clemency.” But then Littlejohn speaks, Zooming in from Big Mac in his red prison shirt, and Hood feels some spark of hope kindling.

“不妨明天就执行死刑，因为我们没有得到该死的宽大处理。”但随后利特尔约翰说话了，镜头从穿着红色监狱衬衫的巨无霸身上放大，胡德感到希望的火花被点燃。

“First and foremost, I want to speak to the Meers family,” Littlejohn says, his voice even.

“首先，也是最重要的，我想和梅尔斯一家说话，”利特尔约翰说道，他的声音平稳。

It’s a feat for the man, who struggles to speak sometimes due to his medical issues.

对于这名男子来说，这是一项壮举，因为他的健康问题有时很难说话。

“I have caused y’all so much hurt, and I’m sorry.…

“我给大家带来了很大的伤害，我很抱歉......

[But] I can assure you that no one gets better from killing me.” The reverend smiles, proud of Littlejohn for keeping his cool.

[但是]我可以向你保证，没有人会因为杀了我而好过。”牧师微笑着，为小约翰保持冷静而感到自豪。

A quick vote follows, as mundane as taking a coffee order, and Hood and Ceily are bowled over when the board votes three to two to recommend Littlejohn clemency.

接下来是一场快速投票，就像点咖啡一样平常，当董事会以三比二的票数建议对利特尔约翰宽大处理时，胡德和塞莉都被推翻了。

Mason looks up at Hood, her eyes wide.

梅森抬头看着胡德，眼睛睁得大大的。

“What did I just hear?

“我刚才听到了什么？

Did he just get clemency?” she asks, the reality of it all not quite sinking in.

他刚刚得到了宽大处理吗？”她问道，但人们还没有完全理解这一切的现实。

“This just doesn’t happen,” Hood says later, high off the victory.

“这根本不会发生，”胡德后来说，胜利的喜悦之情溢于言表。

“A Black man accused of these horrible crimes in a place like Oklahoma.

“一名黑人被指控在俄克拉荷马州这样的地方犯下这些可怕的罪行。

I mean, it just doesn’t happen.”

我的意思是，这根本不会发生。”

Emmanuel Littlejohn may have been recommended clemency in August, but the fight continues as the days tick by to his scheduled execution.

伊曼纽尔·利特尔约翰可能在八月份被建议宽大处理，但随着他预定的处决时间一天天过去，战斗仍在继续。

Attorney General Gentner Drummond is still gunning for the needle, and Gov.

司法部长根特纳·德拉蒙德仍在努力，而州长。

Stitt has remained mum on his decision.

斯蒂特对自己的决定保持沉默。

The euphoria starts to wear off, and Hood’s calls with Littlejohn ping-pong between hope and despair.

兴奋感开始消退，胡德和利特尔约翰的通话在希望和绝望之间打了乒乓球。

During one call, Hood gets more and more incensed about the audacity of the state, how it’s making Littlejohn wait, how it’s essentially torture.

在一次通话中，胡德对政府的大胆行为越来越愤怒，它让利特尔约翰等待，这本质上是一种折磨。

“Calm down, brother,” Littlejohn tells Hood.

“冷静点，兄弟，”利特尔约翰告诉胡德。

He chuckles sadly, realizing that the man sentenced to die is comforting him.

他悲伤地笑了，意识到那个被判死刑的人正在安慰他。

In a lot of ways, though, Hood feels like David facing down Goliath — especially as he watches the world rally around Marcellus Williams , an inmate sentenced to die in Missouri two days before Littlejohn.

不过，在很多方面，胡德感觉就像大卫面对歌利亚——尤其是当他看到世界团结在马塞勒斯·威廉姆斯周围时，马塞勒斯·威廉姆斯是一名在密苏里州被判处死刑的囚犯，比利特尔约翰早两天被判处死刑。

Unlike Littlejohn, Williams has the full force of the Innocence Project, as well his alleged victim’s family, a slew of supporters, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, who took out a full-page ad in a local paper calling for a stop to the execution.

与利特尔约翰不同，威廉姆斯拥有“无罪计划”的全部力量，以及他所谓的受害者的家人、众多支持者，以及维珍集团创始人理查德·布兰森，后者在当地一家报纸上刊登了整版广告，呼吁停止处决。

Meanwhile, Littlejohn has a smattering of supporters and, of course, Hood.

与此同时，利特尔约翰有一些支持者，当然还有胡德。

It seems random to Hood that Williams has an army and Littlejohn a ragtag clan.

在胡德看来，威廉姆斯拥有一支军队，而利特尔约翰则是一个乌合之众，这似乎是随机的。

Not that any of it saves Williams in the end; he’s executed on Sept.

并不是说这一切最终都拯救了威廉姆斯；而是说这一切最终都拯救了威廉姆斯。他于九月被处决

24 .

24.

As Hood prepares himself for the final battle, disaster strikes at home the night before he’s set to leave for Oklahoma: One of his kids intentionally floods the upstairs toilet while their father is downstairs making spaghetti.

当胡德为最后的战斗做准备时，在他出发前往俄克拉荷马州的前一天晚上，灾难降临在家里：他的一个孩子故意淹没楼上的厕所，而他们的父亲正在楼下做意大利面。

The sewage leaks into the light socket in the dining room , and when he goes to fix it, the reverend gets a face full of excrement.

污水漏进了餐厅的灯座，当牧师去修理时，发现他满脸都是粪便。

Littlejohn calls not long after.

不久之后，小约翰打来电话。

“I just got baptized in shit!” Hood exclaims, after explaining the incident.

“我刚刚接受了狗屎的洗礼！”胡德在解释完事件后惊呼道。

Littlejohn laughs darkly.

小约翰阴沉地笑起来。

“Well, you’re gonna get baptized in shit again this week!”

“好吧，这周你又要接受狗屎的洗礼了！”

While Hood packs his bags for Oklahoma, Littlejohn heads to Death Watch, a cell not far from the chamber where the fluorescent lights never go out.

当胡德收拾行李前往俄克拉荷马州时，利特尔约翰前往死亡守卫，这是一个距离房间不远的牢房，那里的荧光灯永远不会熄灭。

He feels dead already, he tells Hood, even though Gov.

他告诉胡德，他感觉自己已经死了，尽管州长。

Stitt could call off his execution any minute.

斯蒂特随时都可以取消对他的处决。

It’s happened before in Oklahoma.

俄克拉荷马州以前也发生过这种事。

Julius Jones was spared four hours before he was scheduled to die.

朱利叶斯·琼斯在预定死亡前四个小时才幸免于难。

Still, Littlejohn is basically in limbo, left to think back on better days — like when he got a Big Wheel for Christmas as a kid — and what he wanted his life to look like then.

尽管如此，利特尔约翰基本上还是陷入了困境，只能回想起美好的时光——比如他小时候收到一个大轮子作为圣诞节礼物——以及他当时想要的生活是什么样子。

“I just wanted to have a good life,” he tells me during a brief phone call, before the line cuts out.

“我只是想过上美好的生活，”在电话挂断之前，他在一个简短的电话中告诉我。

“It didn’t matter what I was doing, as long as I was having a good life.”

“我做什么并不重要，只要我过得好就行。”

The Wednesday before Littlejohn’s execution date, Hood goes into full-on activist mode.

在利特尔约翰被处决之前的周三，胡德进入了全面的激进主义模式。

Early that morning he piles into a rented white SUV he’s dubbed the Priestmobile — piloted by a septuagenarian abolitionist with a lead foot — and heads to Oklahoma City, where a litany of press conferences await.

那天一早，他钻进一辆租来的白色SUV（他称之为牧师车）——驾驶者是一位前脚的七十多岁废奴主义者——前往俄克拉荷马城，那里等待着一连串的新闻发布会。

As the vehicle careens by churches and weed dispensaries, Hood arranges an interview between NPR and Littlejohn, chuckling sadly at a billboard that reads: “When you die you will meet God.” Everything feels like a sign today.

当车辆驶过教堂和杂草药房时，胡德安排了 NPR 和利特尔约翰的采访，他对着一块写着“当你死后你会见到上帝”的广告牌悲伤地笑了。今天一切都像是一个征兆。

Hood links up with Littlejohn’s family under the celestial dome of the capitol building, where he races Ceily in her wheelchair toward a presser with the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus, Littlejohn’s sister Augustina and niece Blessing trailing behind.

胡德在国会大厦的穹顶下与利特尔约翰的家人会合，在那里，他与坐在轮椅上的西莉一起冲向新闻发布会，俄克拉荷马州立法黑人核心小组、利特尔约翰的妹妹奥古斯蒂娜和侄女布莱辛紧随其后。

There’s still hope here.

这里仍然有希望。

Jones’ sister, Antoinette, is in attendance, and that seems like a good omen.

琼斯的妹妹安托瓦内特也在场，这似乎是一个好兆头。

Her brother lived, and so could Littlejohn.

她的哥哥活了下来，小约翰也活了下来。

And so Hood and the family appeal to the press — and governor — in front of the news cameras.

因此，胡德和家人在新闻摄像机前向媒体和州长发出呼吁。

“I’m here to beg and plead for my brother’s life,” Augustina says, blinking tears into the bright lights as she clutches her mom’s hand.

“我来这里是为了求饶我兄弟的生命，”奥古斯蒂娜说道，她握着妈妈的手，在明亮的灯光下眨着泪水。

“To know Manual is to love Manual.

“了解手册就是热爱手册。

He’s a big kid in a 52-year-old man’s body.”

52岁的男人身体里还是个大孩子。”

On the inside, though, Hood’s hope is fading.

但在内心深处，胡德的希望正在破灭。

When he stops to see one of the billboards Death Penalty Action purchased in support of Littlejohn near a roadside Burger King, he’s disheartened when the digital message flashes by in mere seconds.

当他停下来看到路边汉堡王附近为支持利特尔约翰而购买的死刑行动广告牌时，当数字信息在短短几秒钟内闪过时，他感到沮丧。

And when someone from that organization informs him that no one has printed out the petition he’s supposed to present to the governor in mere hours, he’s just pissed.

当该组织的某人告诉他，没有人打印出他应该在短短几个小时内提交给州长的请愿书时，他很生气。

A pit stop at Office Depot later, and Hood speeds back to the capitol, just in time to do yet another presser underneath the painted dome along with a smattering of activists.

随后，胡德在 Office Depot 稍作停留，加速返回国会大厦，正好赶上与少数活动人士一起在彩绘圆顶下进行另一场新闻发布会。

And then it’s on to the governor’s office, where Hood hands a stack of more than 12,000 signatures in support of Littlejohn to a woman wearing red striped pants and a strained smile.

然后镜头转到了州长办公室，胡德将一叠超过 12,000 个支持利特尔约翰的签名递给了一位身穿红色条纹裤子、面带紧张微笑的女士。

The governor himself, though, doesn’t make an appearance.

不过，州长本人并未露面。

He has yet to make a decision, telling the press earlier that day that he “continues to prayerfully and carefully consider the facts, evidence, and recommendations.”

他尚未做出决定，当天早些时候告诉媒体，他“继续虔诚地、仔细地考虑事实、证据和建议”。

Through it all, Hood can only think of Littlejohn, who, just that morning, watched as officials measured his arms and calves for the execution.

经历这一切，胡德只能想起利特尔约翰，就在那天早上，他看着官员们为处决测量了他的手臂和小腿。

“They wanted to check my veins to see if they’re visible, to see if they got a good line to kill me with, I guess,” he tells NPR .

“我想，他们想检查我的静脉，看看它们是否可见，看看他们是否有一条好的线可以杀死我，”他告诉 NPR。

“I have never been so scared in my life.

“我一生中从未如此害怕过。

To have somebody have your life in their hands and you can’t do nothing about it, it messes with a person.

如果有人把你的生命掌握在他们手中，而你却无能为力，这会让一个人陷入困境。

It messes with them and you are going to take it up to the last second.”

这会让他们陷入困境，你必须坚持到最后一秒。”

And Hood prays for Littlejohn, as he has his last meal (pizza, cheesecake, and a Coke), while Hood eats with Littlejohn’s family at a quirky Western-themed restaurant with photos of the Big Mac prison’s long-defunct rodeo on the wall.

胡德在吃最后一顿饭（披萨、芝士蛋糕和可乐）时为小约翰祈祷，而胡德则与小约翰的家人在一家奇特的西方主题餐厅吃饭，墙上挂着巨无霸监狱早已不复存在的牛仔竞技表演的照片。

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks sing “don’t stop thinking about tomorrow” from the overhead speakers, as if he needs a reminder of the sleepless hours ahead.

林赛·白金汉 (Lindsey Buckingham) 和史蒂维·尼克斯 (Stevie Nicks) 从头顶扬声器中唱着“不要停止思考明天”，仿佛他需要提醒他即将到来的不眠之夜。

And so Hood’s back now at the prison gates, watching McAlester wake up.

现在胡德又回到了监狱门口，看着麦卡莱斯特醒来。

The first news outlets start arriving around 6 a.m., and Hood makes one last appeal to the governor via a local TV station: “My hope is that Gov.

早上 6 点左右，第一批新闻媒体开始到达，胡德通过当地一家电视台向州长发出最后的呼吁：“我希望州长。

Stitt is mining his heart.

斯蒂特正在挖掘他的心。

You know, he just had a stent put in, so we know he’s got a good heart,” he quips, referring to a recent surgery.

你知道，他刚刚植入了支架，所以我们知道他的心脏很好，”他打趣道，指的是最近的一次手术。

Augustina, Blessing, and other family members and supporters arrive not long after the sun comes up, gathering at the blockade prison officials put up to keep protesters out.

奥古斯蒂娜、布莱辛以及其他家庭成员和支持者在太阳升起后不久就到达，聚集在监狱官员为阻止抗议者而设置的封锁处。

Augustina seems shell-shocked, rubbing her hands on her pants and pacing, repeating, “I don’t know what to do with this pain.” Blessing bounces on the balls of her feet, telling anyone who will listen about her uncle.

奥古斯蒂娜似乎感到震惊，双手在裤子上摩擦，踱来踱去，重复道：“我不知道该如何应对这种痛苦。”祝福在她的脚掌上弹跳，告诉任何愿意倾听的人关于她叔叔的事情。

He loves clowns, she says — even has a tattoo of a big red-nosed bozo on his back.

她说，他喜欢小丑，甚至背上还纹着一个红鼻子大笨蛋的纹身。

He’s inspired her to go back to school to become a public defender; he’s always believed in her.

他激励她回到学校成为一名公设辩护人；他一直相信她。

“When I seen him last weekend, he was telling me, ‘I’m still young.

“当我上周末见到他时，他告诉我，‘我还年轻。

I got it,’” she recalls.

我明白了，’”她回忆道。

“I’m looking at him.

“我正在看着他。

I’m like, ‘You are in a wheelchair.’ He’s all like, ‘I could lift my foot up.’ I tell you, it took him 10 minutes to lift that foot up, but he got it up.” He wanted to show them his “cute toes,” she says, laughing, before her face falls.

我说，‘你坐在轮椅上。’他则说，‘我可以把脚抬起来。’我告诉你，他花了 10 分钟才把脚抬起来，但他还是站了起来。”他想向他们展示他的“可爱的脚趾”，她笑着说，然后她的脸就垂了下来。

“He’s old.

“他老了。

He’s not a threat to society.

他对社会没有威胁。

He can barely lift his legs, he can barely move his arms.”

他几乎无法抬起双腿，也几乎无法移动手臂。”

Meanwhile, Hood heads to a red brick prison building to wait for the shuttle to the death chamber with Littlejohn’s mom and daughter.

与此同时，胡德前往一栋红砖监狱大楼，与利特尔约翰的母女一起等待前往死刑室的班车。

Outside, more protesters and religious folks arrive, setting up for a vigil outside the blockade.

外面，更多的抗议者和宗教人士抵达，准备在封锁外守夜。

As he makes small talk with prison officials, Hood fiddles with his Bible and bottle of anointing oil, repeating Corinthians 13 in his head, specifically the words “faith, hope, and love .” Still, he can’t help but think of Gov.

当胡德与监狱官员闲聊时，他摆弄着圣经和一瓶膏油，在脑海中重复着《哥林多前书》第 13 章，特别是“信、望、爱”这几个词。尽管如此，他还是忍不住想起了州长。

Stitt, who, less than 30 minutes before the execution start time, has yet to weigh in.

距离行刑开始时间还不到 30 分钟，斯蒂特尚未发表意见。

And that’s its own kind of torture — the waiting, the stress, the hope, the despair.

这就是一种折磨——等待、压力、希望、绝望。

And what for?

又是为了什么？

Justice?

正义？

An end to murder?

谋杀的终结？

An eye for an eye?

以眼还眼？

According to the Death Penalty Information Center’s Maher, there’s no evidence that executions curb violent crime.

死刑信息中心的马赫表示，没有证据表明处决可以遏制暴力犯罪。

“Even the strongest proponents of the use of the death penalty have abandoned the argument that it deters future crime, because every single study that’s been conducted has failed to provide any connection,” she says.

她说：“即使是最强有力的死刑支持者也放弃了死刑可以阻止未来犯罪的论点，因为每一项研究都未能提供任何联系。”

“We use the death penalty because it is the strongest possible response to the most severe crimes.

“我们使用死刑是因为这是对最严重犯罪的最强有力的反应。

In other words, it is vengeance.”

换句话说，这是复仇。”

What is certain, however, is the effect executions have on the inmate’s family.

然而，可以肯定的是，处决对囚犯家人的影响。

“They have the ultimate status of pariah,” says Frank Baumgartner, the death penalty expert.

“他们最终处于贱民的地位，”死刑专家弗兰克·鲍姆加特纳说。

“It’s bad enough to have a loved one in prison, but to have a loved one on death row is that much worse.” Augustina and Blessing are proof of that, milling outside the prison walls, caught between madcap laughter and wails of pain — the polarities of grief.

“有一个所爱的人入狱已经够糟糕了，但有一个所爱的人被关进死囚牢房就更糟糕了。”奥古斯蒂娜和布莱辛就是证明，他们在监狱围墙外徘徊，夹在疯狂的笑声和痛苦的哀号之间——悲伤的两极。

As Hood heads through the succession of heavy metal doors toward the death chamber, it seems less and less likely that Stitt will come through.

当胡德穿过一连串沉重的金属门走向死亡室时，斯蒂特似乎越来越不可能通过。

He walks slower, as if that will stop time.

他走得更慢，仿佛时间就会停止。

It’s about 9:45 a.m.

现在是上午 9 点 45 分左右。

when he reaches the door to the chamber, where a man in tactical gear and what looks like a black ninja mask waits for him.

当他到达房间门口时，一名身穿战术装备、戴着看起来像黑色忍者面具的男人正在那里等着他。

“How’s your family doing?” Hood asks him pointedly; he’s seen the guy before.

“你的家人怎么样？”胡德尖锐地问他。他以前见过那个人。

He wants this man to know he sees him now.

他想让这个男人知道他现在看到了他。

The man responds that he’s not interested in small talk, in a voice Hood will later describe as menacing; he imagines he practices it in the mirror.

该男子回应说，他对闲聊不感兴趣，胡德后来将其语气描述为具有威胁性；他想象自己对着镜子练习。

The masked man opens the door at nearly 10 a.m., and when Hood sees Littlejohn strapped to the gurney, his stomach bottoms out.

上午十点左右，蒙面男子打开门，当胡德看到利特尔约翰被绑在轮床上时，他的胃已经触底了。

And he’s not alone.

他并不孤单。

“Oh, shit,” Littlejohn says sadly.

“哦，糟糕，”利特尔约翰悲伤地说。

Hood takes Littlejohn’s massive hand and the floodgates open, the big man crying fat tears that roll down his face to the gurney below.

胡德握住小约翰的大手，闸门打开，大个子的泪水从他的脸上滚落到下面的轮床上。

“I’m so sorry,” Hood says over and over, but Littlejohn just shakes his head.

“我很抱歉，”胡德一遍又一遍地说，但利特尔约翰只是摇摇头。

“You did good, Jeff,” he says.

“你做得很好，杰夫，”他说。

“I love you.”

“我爱你。”

Hood doesn’t have long to mourn, though — he launches into prayer, talking about sin and casting the first stone, and pulls out the oil to anoint Littlejohn’s head.

不过，胡德并没有哀悼太久——他开始祈祷，谈论罪孽并投下第一块石头，然后拿出油膏抹小约翰的头。

A jokester to the end, Littlejohn cracks a smile.

小约翰自始至终都是个爱开玩笑的人，他笑了。

“Jeff, you done brought me some weed?” he asks, and in a truly bizarre moment, an official in the chamber laughs.

“杰夫，你给我带来了大麻吗？”他问道，在一个真正奇怪的时刻，会议厅里的一位官员笑了。

Littlejohn squeezes Hood’s hand as the curtain raises, so that Littlejohn’s family, the Meers clan, the press, and government officials can watch.

当幕布升起时，利特尔约翰握着胡德的手，这样利特尔约翰的家人、米尔斯家族、媒体和政府官员就可以观看。

Ceily cries when she sees her son, and Littlejohn tells her, “I love you.” Then the process begins: the IVs and needles, the drugs and straps.

西莉看到儿子时哭了，小约翰告诉她：“我爱你。”然后整个过程就开始了：静脉注射和针头、药物和带子。

At Littlejohn’s side, Hood makes the sign of the cross over and over again, until the other man is just a shell.

在小约翰身边，胡德一遍又一遍地画着十字，直到对方变成一具躯壳。

His time of death: 10:17 a.m.

他的死亡时间：上午10点17分

Outside, the news reaches his family.

外面，这个消息传到了他的家人那里。

Augustina faints to the asphalt.

奥古斯蒂娜晕倒在柏油路上。

Blessing falls to her knees and lets out a guttural scream.

祝福跪倒在地，发出一声喉间尖叫。

Later, Littlejohn’s death certificate will read, under manner of death, “homicide.”

后来，利特尔约翰的死亡证明上的死亡方式是“他杀”。

The governor breaks his silence only after Littlejohn dies, telling the press : “A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

直到利特尔约翰去世后，州长才打破沉默，告诉媒体：“陪审团认定他有罪并判处他死刑。

As a law-and-order governor, I have a hard time unilaterally overturning that decision.” His office did not return a request for comment from Rolling Stone .

作为一名治安州长，我很难单方面推翻这一决定。”他的办公室没有回复《滚石》杂志的置评请求。

As Hood emerges from Big Mac, he feels outside of himself somehow — like his spirit is walking with all the men he’d seen die before — Anthony Sanchez, Kenneth Smith, Scott Eizember, and all the rest.

当胡德从巨无霸中出现时，他感觉自己在某种程度上脱离了自己——就像他的灵魂与所有他以前见过的死去的人同行——安东尼·桑切斯、肯尼思·史密斯、斯科特·艾泽姆伯以及其他所有人。

Still, something is missing from his heart.

尽管如此，他的心里还是缺少了一些东西。

“With all of my guys, I feel the same way,” he says.

“我和我所有的人都有同样的感觉，”他说。

“I feel like I’m torn between Missouri’s execution chamber and Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama — a part of me is still in all of those spaces.”

“我觉得我在密苏里州的行刑室和俄克拉荷马州、德克萨斯州、阿拉巴马州之间左右为难——我的一部分仍然在所有这些空间里。”

The pain won’t end when Hood goes home — when Littlejohn’s ashes are buried in a plain metal box back in Kansas, where his family lives.

当胡德回家后，当利特尔约翰的骨灰被埋在他家人居住的堪萨斯州的一个普通金属盒子里时，痛苦并没有结束。

Hood will dream about Littlejohn for weeks and months afterward — how, in the end, he couldn’t save him.

胡德会在接下来的几周和几个月里梦见利特尔约翰——最终他还是没能拯救他。

But it’s Hood’s calling to walk through the valley of death, and his journey isn’t over yet.

但胡德的使命是穿越死亡之谷，而他的旅程还没有结束。