Officials could not find a suitable vein to administer the lethal injection
A death row prisoner, who survived 18 execution attempts after officials were unable to locate a suitable vein for the lethal injection, has died of suspected Covid.
Romell Broom spent 24 years in an Ohio prison after he was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl, Tryna Middleton, as she walked home in 1984.
His execution in the form of the lethal injection was scheduled for 15 September 2009, after a DNA test in 2003 failed to clear Broom’s name, despite insisting that he was innocent.
The prisoner was strapped to a table and officials attempted to locate a suitable vein that they could inject the mix of pancuronium bromide, potassium chloride and midazolam into his body.
After several failed attempts, Broom tried to help the officials by moving his arm up and down and flexing his fingers, the Mirror reported. However, every time execution officials tried, his vein collapsed.
The officials attempted a different strategy, whereby Broom sat upright on the table as the team of officials tried to insert shunts into his legs, which caused him pain.
After the unsuccessful attempts, the team gave up after two hours.
The next execution date was set for 22 September as officials attempted to come up with a way to kill Broom that would not amount to torture or violate the US constitution. However, the execution was then postponed indefinitely.
The Human Rights organisation Amnesty International tried to save the US prisoner’s life and Broom wrote a book entitled ‘Survivor on Death Row’. He also challenged the state as they attempted to set a new date for Broom’s execution.
But in March 2016, Justice Judith Lanzinger ruled against Broom and said that a botched attempt did not constitute a failed killing, explaining that the IV line insertion was only a “preliminary step” whilst the execution itself “commences when the lethal drug enters the IV line.”
Another date for the prisoner’s execution was originally scheduled for 17 June this year, but Governor Mike DeWine issued a reprieve last April, saying the necessary drug was not available. The execution was therefore rescheduled for 16 March 2022.
However, the coronavirus pandemic hit and Broom was put on the “Covid probable list” among other prisoners after he died on 28 December 2020 of suspected Covid-19. He died aged 64.
As reported by the Daily Star, prisoners on death row were not shielded from coronavirus.
