Can a vein save a convicted killer? It the case of Romell Broom—it might. Broom was sentenced to death for raping and murdering 14-year-old Tryna Middleton on Sept. 21, 1984. Broom isn’t supposed to be alive to witness the 25th anniversary of Middleton’s death—but he is. Last Tuesday, the execution team at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility spent several hours trying unsuccessfully to find a viable vein for a lethal injection. Now, Ohio is faced with the difficult task of determining whether it can try to execute Broom a second time, after it botched the first attempt.
Broom’s execution was originally rescheduled for Sept. 22—but that won’t be his last day either. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost issued a 10-day temporary restraining order that will prohibit the second execution attempt from happening. A new execution date cannot be set unless someone, it could be the state or the victim’s family, files a motion with the Ohio Supreme Court. So far, no motion has been submitted. In the meantime, Broom’s attorney will begin to litigate U.S. Constitution, Ohio Constitution, and Ohio statutory claims on his client’s behalf. “Broom should not be executed because the state tried once and failed,” said Tim Sweeney, Broom’s defense attorney. Sweeney hopes Broom’s prison sentence will be converted from death row to life in prison.
Newsweek – Sep 21, 2009:
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I can take care of this for them. I’ve got some extra bullets.
They should use a firing squad consisting of eight sharpshooters… so eight.
I’m all for “BOOM… Head Shot!”
Get a rope. That is a quick and painless execution. No vein required.
When serving a death sentance, they should be able to try to execute you as many times as they are allowed to detain you while serving a life sentance. If a prisoner escapes, would that nullify his life sentance? Why should the opposite be true for a death sentance
Not really #4 Benjamin. Even when hangings were common practice, there were problems. Properly making and placing the noose and measuring how much length and force would be need for a clean snap of the neck was an art back them. Sadly, these days it’s a lost art.
#6 I guess I watch too many Westerns then.
China just executes with a single shot to the back of the neck. They send the bill for the bullet to the next of kin. No vein their either.
I meant, “No vein there either.” Sorry about the bad grammar.
7, Benjamin,
China has mobile execution buses now.
http://aftermathnews.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/china_mobile_execution_van.jpg
#9 Nice. You posted the picture instead of the article though. It just looks like an RV with a siren (flashing lights).
10 Benjamin
Sorry. Thought it was old news. Lots of details on the interwebitubes….
http://usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-14-death-van_x.htm
Wow! The poll results are really surprising considering the liberal leanings of the habitués of this blog. Shows everyone is capable of thinking some of the time.
A bullet to the back of the head works every time. That is the reason organized crime organizations use it.
#11 Thanks for the link.
Guillotine. It leaves no doubts.
15 spsffan,
It was designed as a more humane way of execution…
Considering how many people the US executes / imprisons incorrectly, I’m surprised it’s still on the books…
#12, I’m as liberal as anybody, but I have no problem with capital punishment in certain cases. The world would be a better place without some people.
This vein thing happens in hospitals all the time, right? …..there’s a big vein underneath your collarbone somewhere, use that instead.
…can’t understand the difficulty.
Lethal injection, as pioneered by Texas is a real shame. Putting people to death for crimes is a deadly serious business, and I think this method tries to sugar coat it, and basically hide it.
There is nothing wrong with a firing squad. It should be held close enough to the other prisoners so that they can hear the shots and know that justice will not be deterred. A firing squad can be instructed to repeat firing until the felon is dead.
Of course members of the squad is completely voluntary. No guard or officer of the court should be compelled to participate.
This trying to “humanize” executions is nothing but a sham designed to sell capital punishment to a squeamish public, and in turn expand the scope of eligible crimes. It shouldn’t be. Either you are for it, and the ugly reality that it entails. Or you shouldn’t do it. This neither-here-nor-there that we have perfected here in the US is disgusting.
For the record, I am for capital punishment, for the worst offenders that have no regard to life or civility. But the way we hand out death sentences and act (or don’t act) on them here is seriously messed up. It is screwed up enough that I feel the state has forsaken its right to use it. It needs serious reform.
I’ll never say that Capital Punishment is morally unacceptable. I will, however, say that it is financially unacceptable. We waste countless dollars trying, re-trying, appealing, etc, when a life sentence without parole works just as well.
This poll and these comments are creepy as all get out. I really don understand the American attitude to capital punishment.
21 Noel,
Americans are odd creatures. The love punishment almost as much as their puritanical history. They’re like children!
When debating the financial expense of the death penalty on the one hand, it’s necessary to consider the savings it affords on the other. With it, prosecutors can coerce defendants to plea bargain life imprisonment instead of facing a costly death penalty trial. Moreover, this results in a confession or at least acknowledgment as to the facts of the crime, which can bring some solace to friends and relatives of the victim(s).
>Of course members of the squad is completely voluntary. No guard or officer of the court should be compelled to participate.
Why? This is another way of humanizing the death penalty. They should have a firing squad with members pulled from the community like a jury pool.
Easy solution.
Just hand the slime ball over to Obama’s Death Panel. The perp will probably commit suicide in less than a week.
“the execution team spent several hours trying unsuccessfully to find a viable vein… ”
Try the big one in his neck. One cut, death within a minute. A bit messy.
He’s not worth the cost. It’s costs less to keep him in jail for life than execute him. If lethal injection is as humane as it’s made out to be, life in prison is more of a punishment.
#23 said, “With it, prosecutors can coerce defendants to plea bargain life imprisonment instead of facing a costly death penalty trial.”
My problem with the justice system is plea bargains in general. They are almost always coerced. You either accept a plea bargain, hope the idiot public defender can get you off, or mortgage your house and everything you own to pay a lawyer.
I’m a liberal against the death penalty, but a technical failure in applying the sentence is not a reason to avoid the sentence. That’s like saying a technical failure in transporting a person to jail (i.e. they escape) means they don’t have to serve their sentence.
The reasons I’m against the death penalty are:
1. It’s unequally applied — given the same crime committed, poor people committing it get sentenced to death more than rich people (i.e., how much justice can you afford?)
2. People are wrongly convicted sometimes. You can’t unkill someone who is later found innocent.
3. The government shouldn’t have that much power over people that it can put them to death. I’d have thought I would have more “conservatives” agree with me on this one, but “conservative” doesn’t mean what it used to mean.
“Broom should not be executed because the state tried once and failed,” said Tim Sweeney, Broom’s defense attorney.
No wait… I have a better rule. I have a better rule…
RBG