Eizember v. Trammell, No. 14-6012 (10th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseUpon release from jail, petitioner-appellant Scott Eizember went to his ex-girlfriend's hometown to lie in wait for her. She had tipped off authorities about his violation of a protective order. Eisember noticed an elderly couple leaving a house across the street from the ex-girlfriend's home. After the couple left, Eizember broke in. But A.J. and Patsy Cantrell didn't stay away as long; when they returned home they found Eizember pointing their own shotgun at them. Mr. Cantrell saw an opportunity to grab the gun away from Eizember; a shot hit Eizember in the hand, but also struck and killed Mrs. Cantrell. In what followed, Eizember wrestled the gun away from Mr. Cantrell and proceeded to beat him with it until he fell unconscious. Eizember headed across the street, shotgun in hand, toward the ex-girlfriend's house. Her son saw him coming and tried to run, but before he could, Eizember shot him in the back. Eizember turned on Montgomery's grandmother and beat her too. Montgomery recovered enough to run out of the house and into his pickup truck with Eizember leaping into the truck bed. Eventually Montgomery crashed into a pole, jumped out, and ran for help. Eizember headed in the other direction and managed to hitch a ride. For the next eleven days Eizember hid in wooded areas around Depew, until eventually stealing a car, then hitchhiking further away. Dr. Sam Peebles and his wife stopped and offered him a lift. Eizember turned his pistol on the couple and ordered them to drive him to Texas. The journey lasted hours. During a roadside break in Texas, Dr. Peebles drew his own revolver and shot Eizember. Eizember wrested the revolver away and bludgeoned Dr. Peebles with the pistol he'd stolen back in Oklahoma. Eizember tried to shoot Mrs. Peebles. When the pistol wouldn't fire, he struck her in the head instead and ran off. At a nearby convenience store, the clerk heard he'd been shot and called the police. It was only then that the authorities arrested Eizember, taking him first to a hospital to recover, and, in time, to Oklahoma for trial. There, a jury there found Eizember guilty of: first-degree murder, second-degree felony murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, shooting with intent to kill, and first-degree burglary. Eizember was sentenced to death. Eizember managed to obtain a certificate of appealability permitting him to raise a number of issues to the Tenth Circuit. But finding no basis upon which to grant relief, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief.
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