Despite Inmate’s Efforts to Help, Executioners Couldn’t Find Suitable Vein
An Ohio inmate has gotten a week’s reprieve after an execution team was unable to find a usable vein for a lethal injection, despite his efforts to help.
Romell Broom had been sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. The execution team spent more than two hours trying to find a vein that would not collapse, the Associated Press reports. Gov. Ted Strickland ordered the reprieve after prisons director Terry Collins called him to relay the execution team’s troubles.
Broom tried to help by moving his arm up and down, flexing his fingers, and moving rubber tubing up and down his arm, the story says. Later, Broom covered his face with both hands and appeared to be crying.
Richard Dieter, director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, said next week’s scheduled execution could be delayed by further legal appeals. “I think this is going to be challenged. [Issues include] whether under our standards of decency, subjecting someone to multiple executions is cruel and unusual, … whether this is in effect experimenting on human beings, whether or not they’re sure what works in Ohio,” he said.
