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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Ohio Governor Delays Romell Broom's execution

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LUCASVILLE, Ohio — Gov. Ted Strickland has delayed an execution after the Ohio execution team had problems finding the inmate's veins.

Strickland ordered a week-long reprieve Tuesday afternoon after executioners struggled for about two hours to locate suitable veins for inserting IVs into 53-year-old Romell Broom.

The team began working on Broom, in a holding cell 17 steps from the execution chamber, shortly after 2 p.m.

No Ohio governor has issued a similar last-minute reprieve since the state resumed executions in 1999.

Broom raped and stabbed to death a 14-year-old girl in 1984 after abducting her at knifepoint as she walked home from a Friday night football game with two friends.

Related story: Ohio executioners struggle to find veins

Source: AP, September 15, 2009 08:43 PM EDT
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