Deadly mistakes merit change
Editorial
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Editorial
Many believe murder is unacceptable and inhumane. Wrong. Many Americans support the death penalty. Many believe lethal injection is a painless, effective way to justify a murder. Wrong, again. Lethal injection was certainly not painless nor effective for Ohio death-row inmate Romell Broom last September.
This man's horribly botched execution should not only raise the question of whether the state should proceed with further executions but should ask every state whether we should be sentencing people to death at all.
A recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center cited that Broom grimaced and winced with pain while Ohio's execution team plunged the needle into his body for nearly two hours.
They repeatedly went back to already-bruised areas and even hit a bone with the needle. When Broom was not covering his face with both hands, sobbing, he was helping executioners try to find a good vein by massaging his arms and pointing to veins. After the Ohio governor, Ted Strickland, ordered the execution to stop he made plans to delay attempts for at least one week while the team was consulted on how to more efficiently execute a man. At least with Russian roulette a person only has to hear the click of an empty gun chamber a few times.
Though Broom's case is a grotesque display of the death penalty in action, it is quite unusual. He returned to death row after the mishap. Prisoners who are the victims of botched executions often suffer through the mistake until the very end. The Death Penalty Information Center has an extensive list of these executions on its Web site dating all the way back to 1982.
In Florida in 2006, one man had to be administered two lethal injections to die. He grimaced and tried to mouth words after the initial dose. The Florida Department of Corrections claimed the first lethal injection failed because he had a liver disease.
However, the autopsy revealed the first attempt failed because the needle went through the man's vein and ejected the poisons into soft tissue.
This man's horribly botched execution should not only raise the question of whether the state should proceed with further executions but should ask every state whether we should be sentencing people to death at all.
A recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center cited that Broom grimaced and winced with pain while Ohio's execution team plunged the needle into his body for nearly two hours.
They repeatedly went back to already-bruised areas and even hit a bone with the needle. When Broom was not covering his face with both hands, sobbing, he was helping executioners try to find a good vein by massaging his arms and pointing to veins. After the Ohio governor, Ted Strickland, ordered the execution to stop he made plans to delay attempts for at least one week while the team was consulted on how to more efficiently execute a man. At least with Russian roulette a person only has to hear the click of an empty gun chamber a few times.
Though Broom's case is a grotesque display of the death penalty in action, it is quite unusual. He returned to death row after the mishap. Prisoners who are the victims of botched executions often suffer through the mistake until the very end. The Death Penalty Information Center has an extensive list of these executions on its Web site dating all the way back to 1982.
In Florida in 2006, one man had to be administered two lethal injections to die. He grimaced and tried to mouth words after the initial dose. The Florida Department of Corrections claimed the first lethal injection failed because he had a liver disease.
However, the autopsy revealed the first attempt failed because the needle went through the man's vein and ejected the poisons into soft tissue.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Dale Rudy
posted 11/11/09 @ 9:54 PM CST
Are you serious? These condemned murderers should not be felt sorry for. It would notcost that musch to execute these murderers if they got as many appeals as there VICTIMS. (Continued…)
Post a Comment