Ohio inmate 'traumatized' after failed execution

"It went so badly when he was walking in without injured veins, to go
forward so soon afterward just seems to be inviting disaster," Shank said.

Gov. Ted Strickland's decision to stop Tuesday's execution and grant a
one-week reprieve appeared to be unprecedented since capital punishment
was declared constitutional and the nation resumed executions in the
1970s.

Inmates in several states have experienced delays with the injection of
lethal chemicals, but those executions have always proceeded the same day.

Shank said 1 option was to ask Strickland to consider a request for
clemency and to commute Broom's sentence.

Strickland said he is reviewing the incident and consulting with prison
officials and others about the next step.

"That does not mean there will be a review of the larger issue of lethal
injections," Strickland said Wednesday. "That's been settled. Obviously
yesterday demonstrated that we have a problem with this particular set of
circumstances."

A prison log released Wednesday blamed Broom's past drug use for problems
finding a usable vein.

The log indicates that executioners made the observation at 3:11 p.m.,
more than an hour after first trying to find a vein.

"Medical team having problem maintaining an open vein due to past drug
use," said the log reviewed by The Associated Press.

Broom said at one point he was a heavy heroin user, but then said at
another time that he wasn't, prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said
Wednesday.

Shank said she was unaware of any such drug use.

"If there's such a thing, it's got to be at least 25 years old," she said.
"I don't thinking it should be having an impact at this late date."

Broom, 53, has been placed in a cell in the infirmary at the Southern Ohio
Correctional Facility in Lucasville where he is on close watch similar to
the constant observation of death row inmates in the 3 days before an
execution.

"It was the right place to keep him," Walburn said. "The less we can
transport an offender, the better."

Death row inmates are housed in a Youngstown prison and executed in the
death chamber at Lucasville. There's no precedent for housing an inmate
whose execution didn't work.

The night before his scheduled execution, Broom told his brother over the
phone that he was ready to die.

"He is tired of being in prison and having people tell him what to do
everyday," according to the prison log.

Broom was sentenced to die for the rape and slaying of a 14-year-old Tryna
Middleton after abducting her in Cleveland in September 1984 as she walked
home from a Friday night football game with 2 friends.

Richard Dieter, director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information
Center, said he knows of only one inmate who was subjected to more than 1
execution.

A first attempt to execute Willie Francis in 1946 by electrocution in
Louisiana did not work. He was returned to death row for nearly a year
while the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether a second electrocution
would be unconstitutional.

In 2007, the Georgia execution of inmate John Hightower was delayed for
several minutes while officials struggled to find a suitable vein in his
left arm.

Florida halted executions after the death of Angel Diaz in December 2006
was delayed for 34 minutes because needles were accidentally pushed
through his veins, causing the chemicals to go into his muscles instead.
Florida resumed executions in 2008 under new procedures.

In Texas in 2000, the execution of Claude Jones was delayed by about 30
minutes because of difficulties finding a vein in either arm to insert the
drugs. Authorities used a vein in his left leg instead.

Problems accessing veins also delayed Ohio executions in 2006 and 2007.

In 2006, the execution of Joseph Clark was delayed for more than an hour
after the team failed to properly attach an IV, an incident that led to
changes in Ohio's execution process.

The state also had difficulty finding the veins of inmate Christopher
Newton, whose May 2007 execution was delayed nearly 2 hours.

Since Clark, the state's execution rules have allowed team members to take
as much time as they need to find the best vein for the IVs that carry the
three lethal chemicals.

Ohio has executed 32 men since Wilford Berry in 1999, an execution
slightly delayed also because of problems finding a vein.

(source: Associated Press)

 Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)