Academic

Difficulties with Death Penalty

By Jacqueline Lipton

I don't know if people outside of Ohio have heard about the situation this week in the case of Romell Broom who was to be executed earlier this week for a murder committed some 25 years ago.  The governor was forced to order a temporary halt to the execution when the execution team was physically unable to insert shunts into the inmate's veins through which the lethal injections would be applied.  The execution team apparently tried to insert the shunts for 2 hours and then the governor was called.  A reprieve has been granted until sometime next week, although it was not clear from the news reports exactly how this matter will proceed.  A report from the Cleveland Plain Dealer is here.  Has this ever happened before in other death penalty states?  Is there a protocol for it?  It's obviously troubling on a number of levels, not the least of which is how one might feel about the death penalty in the first place.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on September 18, 2009 (boomark / email).