Ohio: executioners struggle to find suitable veins

LUCASVILLE, Ohio—Executioners struggled to find suitable veins to put a condemned inmate to death Tuesday in a prison scene reminiscent of the problems that delayed executions in 2006 and 2007 and led to changes in Ohio's lethal injection process.

The team of prison volunteers was having trouble inserting IVs into the arms of 53-year-old Romell Broom (pictured), said Tim Sweeney, one of Broom's attorneys.

The team began working on Broom, in a holding cell 17 steps from the execution chamber, shortly after 1 p.m.

Broom lost a last-minute appeal earlier in the day, delaying the execution originally scheduled for 10 a.m.

Messages were left for prison officials in Lucasville and for the Ohio Attorney General's office.

A medical evaluation Monday determined that veins in Broom's right arm appeared accessible, while those in his left arm were not as visible.

Broom is sentenced to die for raping and killing 14-year-old Tryna Middleton in Cleveland in 1984.

In 2006, the execution of Joseph Clark was delayed for more than an hour after the team failed to properly attach an IV, an incident that led to changes in Ohio's execution process.

The state also had difficulty finding the veins of inmate Christopher Newton, whose May 2007 execution was delayed nearly two hours.

In that case, the state said the delay was caused by team members taking their time as opposed to an unforeseen problem.

Since Clark, the state's execution rules have allowed team members to take as much time as they need to find the best vein for the IVs that carry the three lethal chemicals.

Broom had sought a court hearing to consider whether investigators shielded records at his trial. He says the records could have changed the trial's outcome.

The state announced shortly before 9:30 a.m. that it had stopped short of inserting shunts into Broom's arms for the lethal injection procedure. Prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said at about 12:30 p.m. that preparations had resumed and would likely take about an hour.

Broom was convicted in the 1984 slaying of Tryna Middleton after abducting her at knifepoint in Cleveland as she walked home from a Friday night football game with two friends.

Walburn said Broom spent the hours during the delay reading, listening to the radio and watching television and visited with an attorney for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. He was served a prison lunch of creamed chicken, biscuits, green beans, mashed potatoes, salad, an apple and grape beverage. He sat on his bed and began eating the lunch after he learned his final appeal request was denied.

Walburn said Tryna Middleton's mother, father and aunt planned to witness the execution on her behalf.

No one was to watch the execution on Broom's behalf, and he had no visitors in the day before his execution, a first since Ohio resumed executions in 1999. He spoke on the phone with his brother and sister.

Ohio has executed 32 men since Wilford Berry in 1999, an execution slightly delayed also because of problems finding a vein.

Broom's execution would be the second in less than a month.

Source: AP, Sept. 15, 2009