By Brian Evans
The death penalty is always inhumane, but Ohio’s second attempt
to execute Romell Broom on September 15th was particularly disturbing.
During the two-hour ordeal the execution team repeatedly attempted and
failed to find a useable vein in which to insert the lethal injection
needle, and eventually had to give up. Mr. Broom’s execution has been
stayed, but Lawrence Reynolds, Darryl Durr, and Kenneth Biros are still
scheduled to be put to death before the end of this year.
Mr. Reynolds
lawyers have filed for a stay of execution, pointing out that this
latest failed execution attempt is further evidence of “a pattern of serious problems with the administration of lethal injection in Ohio.”
While the victims of these crimes and their families always suffer
greatly, the perpetuation of violence through the death penalty is
never the most constructive way to handle such tragedies.
Unfortunately, this situation is not unique; in Ohio
alone there have been at least two other poorly handled executions over
the last three years. In May of 2006, it took the Ohio execution team
nearly half an hour to find a useable vein in condemned prisoner Joseph Clark’s
arm, and then that vein collapsed, causing Clark’s arm to swell.
The
witnesses reported hearing “moaning, crying out and guttural noises”
coming from behind the curtain while the execution team continued to
try for 30 more minutes to find another vein. It wasn’t until an hour
and a half after the execution began that Joseph Clark was pronounced
dead.
In 2007 another execution team in Ohio struggled to find useable veins in condemned prisoner, this time Christopher Newton.
It was again a prolonged ordeal, and Mr. Newton was not declared dead
until nearly two hours after the execution process began.
Ohio state officials still have no contingency plan for these kinds of
situations, and they are not addressed in the state’s lethal injection
protocol. Because of this clear evidence that the state of Ohio has
serious problems administering lethal injections, please tell Ohio
Governor Ted Strickland to stop executions from being carried out in his state.
We should of kept old sparky.That old chair never let us down.Come on Ohio get it right.
That thing was incredibly inhumane.
It did it's job!
Sometimes it just horrifically burned people.
Those monsters deserved to be burned for what they did
Thats the first I ever heard that.So whats your choice?
To Canada?
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
Good choice Solar Sanitizer.
"Romell Broom (born 4 June 1956) is an American murderer, kidnapper and rapist. He was convicted in 1984 of abducting and killing Tryna Middleton, age 14, who was walking home from a football game in Cleveland, Ohio. He maintains his innocence. In 2003, Broom took up the offer from the state of Ohio of a DNA test to prove his innocence — the test failed to prove his innocence, with the clemency hearing concluding that "The [DNA] report does not indicate an exact match, but does indicate that the likelihood of Broom being the donor is 1 in 2.3 million. Otherwise stated, eight or nine other black males in the country would have the same profile."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romell_Broom
Broom also has convictions for robbery, aggravated robbery and four counts of kidnap of a male child."
I don't find my heartstrings pulled when I hear his sad story of being painfully poked.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
no heart strings indeed maybe it was great justice that he felt a portion of the pain he inflicted on this child..