Romell Broom, 52, was given a rare one-week reprieve when officials struggled for hours to find a vein strong enough to handle lethal injection. The scene was particularly grotesque for critics of the death penalty as Broom awaited his death for hours as he was pricked and probed. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland eventually ordered the one-week delay to allow prison officials time to figure out the best vein to use to execute him.
Broom was convicted of raping and fatally stabbing a 14-year-old girl in East Cleveland, Ohio, in 1984. Broom reportedly tried to help the prison staff find a vein in his own execution.
The defense moved quickly when Broom’s lawyer in prison, Adele Shank (a particularly apt name for a prisoner lawyer), notified co-counsel Tim Sweeney that they could not find a vein at the Lucasville facility. They did an excellent job in moving to seek a termination of the procedure.
For some, this brings up memories of problems in May 2006 when Ohio officials took 90 minutes to find a vein in the execution of Joseph Clark, who was heard pleading with the officials “It don’t work.”
Then in 2007, officials in Ohio took two hours to find a vein for Christopher Newton’s execution.
These botched executions are often cited as magnifying the cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. However, courts have rejected such claims in the past and find that the state cannot anticipate every eventuality. Yet, Ohio’s persistent difficulties raise some question as to whether the state is less competent in executions or whether other states are less careful. The possibility of a vein not functioning fully can cause a horrific outcome where the inmate is not fully sedated and not given sufficient lethal doses to ensure rapid death.
I have previously written about the problem associated with lethal injection, here.
For the full story, click here.
I use words like “savage” and “brutal”, to illustrate my point when discussing “monsters” like Mr. Broome. I don’t want the civilized society to lose sight of what a vicious predator like Mr. Broome is capable of. Then sit back and reflect on the indescribable loss of this family, who nurtured, loved and inculcated this little girl, for fourteen years. I am tearful just thinking about it….
You like?
C’mon CCD, lets’ not play games. You understand me, and I you. We just fundamentally are at an impasse. We philosophically disagree on the punishment that should be meted out to those who commit murder one. You think they should get life, I feel they should “say hello” to old sparky….
We also agree the state makes’ errors. We live in a human fallible world, the judges and judicial system try to get it right 100% of the time, sometimes they fail in this endeavor.
My point is simple CCD. I thought I had spent two days articulating it, with little ambiguity. I presume you speak English and understand the written word. I believe the death penalty is a “just and fitting” punishment for those who commit “murder one”, period. I don’t care what color you are. If you do the crime, you do the time….
If the man were white, would you give a shit, or even raise your hand CCD?
Very few pepole take pleasure in “the death penalty”. I see it a s a tool or agent of the people, to exact punishment toward those who commit premeditated, first degree murder. I know this topic is a hot button, it always will be..
Billy:
I still don’t understand your point. – Billy
My point, you’re an intelligent person with little compassion.
See who Burge is. The state makes error’s. No race card played, just fact.
The judicial system is not perfect, nothing is, but our system of law is still the best thing going. I don’t think the Death Penalty is a likeable thing, sadly I feel it is a just and fitting thing, for those who commit murder one. Perpetrators that prey on others and take life wantonly for pleasure need to be executed. Our society is very, very civilized and sophisticated. What would most less civilized society’s do to the likes of a Mr. Broome or a Jeffrey Dahmer?
If a person is executed who is innocent, I feel just like you, I am saddened and crestfallen. The likes of Mr. Broome don’t receive my sympathy, emapthy or support. He is a cold-blooded psychopath. He murdered a fourteen year old girl after he brutally raped her. Advocate for the victim CCD…………
CCD, I grew up in Detroit, some of my best friends are African-American. Don’t lay your racist clap-trap at my door. You play the race card because you have no other card to play, when the facts are analyzed, I don’t care if you are green, blue or taupe! You commit murder one, you are a dangerous menace to society. The state I live in, has the death penalty. I think it is a fair and just law. Others don’t, what can I say? The criminal system is not full-proof. NOTHING IS. I still don’t understand your point. People are in prison for having commited other felonies, that they never committed, you and I have control over only so much. Clint Eastwood said it best in “Magnum Force”, ‘Man’s Got to Know His Limitations’……
Billy:
It’s just fine you’re not black, didn’t grow up on the Southside of Chicago, and never came into direct contact with Police Commander Jon Burge or anyone under his command.
Henry above said best:
The question is whether innocent people deserve to be executed. It is impossible for the criminal justice system to be foolproof, so, if you support the death penalty, you support the execution of innocent people. I’m not saying, of course, that you like to see the execution of innocent people; I’m saying that you consider the execution of innocent people to be acceptable collateral damage.
erykah with brevity:
State sanctioned murder. Lovely. Give the man life in prison and be done with it.
The death penalty is a deterrent, once the perpetrator is brought under control and placed on death row and ultimately put to death, he know longer has an opportunity to kill again, he is deterred in perpetuity……
Like I said last night lottakatz(?), blah, blah, blah, heard it all before…….
Most of those 15 people who were set free, due to the advent of DNA(which I think is wonderful by the way), all probably were convicted felons, with rap sheets a mile long and had served prior stints in prison for violent crimes….
We should parole all people on death row, send ’em back into society, you know, give ’em another chance.. Thank goodness we don’t have the likes of you boobcatchers running our penal system. Thankfully, our laws and justice system are a bit more sophisticated than that. I guess that’s why you spend all day and night on the internet. I mean with your logic, “everyone” was convicted on “tainted:, planted evidence. I suppose the jury that railroaded Mr. Brooome were all card carrying members of the Klan as well?”
Mr. Broome should be paroled, lottakatz(?). And oredered to live next to you and your family, in fact in the house RIGHT next door. Would that strike you right? That’s right, lets cry a river of tears for poor Mr. Broome, who was convicted on “tainted” evidence. He never really raped and savagely killed that little 14 year old girl, it was all just a big mistake….. Fifteen death row inmates exonerated, and thousands, THOUSANDS, who are serving on death row and rightfully so, for “murder one”
Billy: “Blah. Blah. Blah. I have heard this rhetoric before! Everyone who philosophically is opposed to the death penalty says the same thing, come up with a new slant, a new angle, at least make it interesting.”
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That’s just cold and insulting; the flip side is: “Blah. Blah. Blah. I have heard this rhetoric before! Everyone who philosophically advocates the death penalty says the same thing” regarding your point that the perpetrator once executed will never commit another crime. Come up with a new slant Billy, at least make it interesting.
Billy: “The DA and authorities have the right man 99.9% of the time.”
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But it’s a real drag if you are that .01 percent:
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/17/la-deputy-shoots-unarmed-man-in-the-back/
And from Wikipedia: Wrongful executions
” … Newly-available DNA evidence has allowed the exoneration of more than 15 death row inmates since 1992 in the U.S.”
puzzling:
“What is civilized about executing innocent people?
What is civilized about executing?”
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I see you are “puzzled” by our strategy for domestic tranquility. We call it state approved violence. Even more remarkable, our strategy for peace is war. Strange beings these homo sapiens.
What is civilized about executing innocent people?
What is civilized about executing?
Is everyone actually entitled to a trial in this civilized and democratic society?