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 tryed to be reasonable, but you crossed the line senor. you implied I was a racist and wanted to start playing dirty. You didn’t smoke me out, you only exposed yourself for the small-minded, unintelligent person you truly are. I was reasonable in my discussion, you chose to call me juvenille little names because ‘you” were exposed for being the bullshitter that you are. I bet you believe in nothing and care for nothing…..
billy (boy),
I just wanted to “smoke you out” for what I think you really are. Your foul language, instead of reasonable discussion with me, provides the evidence I needed.
You can ask the others who post here regularly; I am an unabashed, strong proponent of the death penalty, as evidenced by my many posts regarding the subject. I just do not want to be lumped in the same category as you reside.
Federal LEO, man you are one sick disordered puppy! You sit there and mock, yes mock the death of this fourteen year old girl, who has a heartbroken family, for all time, and all you can do is make some STUPID, unintelligent statement implying I am a racist, because this cold-blooded murderer is on death row, and I believe needs to die, the sooner the better. He has spent way to long watching ESPN and lifting weights and eating three hot meals a day, to go on much longer. If he were a white man who killed this girl you wouldn’t give a damn you self serving piece of shit! You only open your loud mouth because he is black and you wanna score some fuckin’ points. Your parents must be so proud, I don’t know who is worse, Mr. Broome the rapist/ murderer, or the likes of you- who is all broken up over his dreadful “holiday” in prison. Eat shit and live LEO…
Oh where have you been billyboy, bullyboy
Oh where have you been Charmin’ billy
I have been to see the strife
Snuffed out a’takin’ Missah Broom’s Life
He’s a black man juss aint much worth a-savin’
When Tom Horn was hanged in Cheyenne Wyoming in 1903, he asked a deputy bailiff, who believed Horn was innocent, why he was getting killed for a crime that many believed he was innocent of. The young bailff said, “Maybe you’re bein’ hanged for all the other stuff they never caught you doin’ Tom”….
You said it best Mike, maybe I’m being overly optimistic. I think in the legal profession, especially if you are a DA, you need optimism, lots and lots of optimism, especially in this day and age, illustrated so beautifully by the highlight reels that you and friend LEO provided. Bad guys just keep gettin sprung, one after the other after the other…
This is why you hope you get DA’s like Bugliosi, who leave no stone unturned. He was brilliant and a legendary bulwark for justice.
Thisin’ is mo-better…
Sadly Mike, many, many cases, even “murder one” cases are based on circumstantial evidence. Vincent Bugliosi, the ex-DA from Los Angeles County said it best. “When you gather up all those strands, those many strands of circumstantial evidence, when banded together they make a very thick and powerful rope, This rope is the rope that gets’ the conviction”
“With the advent of DNA, the authorities should now be able to get it right, about 99.9% of the time”
Billy,
I think you are being overly optimistic. In any event the real killers will allow for DNA and take precautions. However,
that still isn’t the point. Most police work is not like CSI. The gathering of evidence takes a back seat to Detectives instincts and the amount of pressure put on them to solve the crime, especially one that makes the evening news. People have been convicted when they’ve had solid alibi’s putting them many miles away, but somehow the alibi was not followed up on. Evidence that is exculpatory has been suppressed by self righteous prosecutors looking for convictions.
Circumstantial evidence of the most superficial nature has convicted people because their legal aid lawyer was overworked, or the publicity assured the appearance of their guilt. This is not one instance, but literally hundreds have been uncovered in only the past few years. Google it if you think I’m exaggerating. Any system that puts to death innocent people is wrong and even from your perspective should be seen as such because it allows the guilty to go free.
Sadly, the media circus and sensationalistic aspects of a murder case are inevitable, especially when dealing with serial killers and rapist/murderers who prey on children. When the authorities apprehend the individual in question, they get it right. Public sentiment is never going to be on the side of the perpetrator. It’s a little hard to find objectivity and support for the likes of a Dahmer or Richard Ramirez, in light of the fact they have made the existential decision to violate the mores and norms of our civilized society. When you go out and start raping and killing and try to “cover it up”, it makes the frenzy only that much worse. It is just that they should be killed as humanely as possible. I only wish they would not languish on death row for so long, this to me seems cruel and unnecessary.
The death penalty is “extreme punishment” meted out to those who commit the most “extreme crime”. With the advent of DNA, the authotities should now be able to get it right, about 99.9% of the time, and that is about as close as you can ever get. Nothing in this world is ever 100% perfect, not even our abused judicial sysytem, although I still feel it is the best thing going..
Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy weren’t the wrong men. I don’t want to see an innocent person killed either Mike, I also don’t want to see others killed by a “known” killer, who while alive can kill others in or out of the correctional facility. This is why they should “die”, they have already demonstrated they will kill and very well may kill again, if it strikes them right…..
The victim is the fourteen year old and her devastated family, not the psychopath felon who murdered her.
“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.”
Billy,
I’m against the death penalty simply because there have been far too many cases of LEO’s and the Judicial system getting it wrong. I have no problem with those truly guilty of Murder One being put to death, but I do have a problem when it happens to innocent people, or because they are not white. Our legal system is quite imperfect: police are pushed to “clear” cases;
Prosecutors are rewarded for high conviction percentages; juries are influenced by lurid media stories convicting the person before the trial. Figure out a way to get past that and I’m with you on the death penalty. Your problem is though that there isn’t a way and I wouldn’t want to see one innocent person die due to a rush to judgment.
Advocate for the victim CCD…………
Billy I thought I was:
The innocent person arrested, charged, tried, convicted, sentenced and executed.
Do you know Burge yet?
Tricia, you couldn’t have said it better. Boo-hoo, they couldn’t find Mr. Broomes’ vein. Give me a break!
It happens every day where someone cant find a good vain but they try again just for things like getting blood or putting in IV’s. This man is supposed to die why should he not just because they couldn’t find a vain that day? He was not being mistreated it is not that painful looking for a vain. I’m sure that 14 year old was in a lot more pain.
I am compassionate CCD. You feel I lack magnanimity, because I don’t champion “life” for those who commit ‘murder one’, so be it. I would rather protect the innocent from the psychopath, who feels he has the RIGHT to take life, because he is pissed off at the world, or gets his jollies raping and killing the defenseless because it makes him feel self-actualized!