Lethal Rejection

Execution fails over inmate's unsuitable veins

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Executioners couldn't find a suitable vein in which to inject drugs to kill a 53-year-old murderer, who then got a one-week reprieve from the governor so Ohio prison officials can figure out what to do.

"This is unchartered territory for us," prison spokeswoman Julie Walburn said of the difficulty in killing convicted rapist and murderer Romell Broom.

Democratic Governor Ted Strickland issued the reprieve at the request of the prison warden overseeing the state's execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Walburn said prison officials would consult "several people" about how to perform Broom's execution, which by state law must be done by lethal injection.

Broom is to be executed for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Tryna Middleton in Cleveland in 1984.

Some of Middleton's family members present to witness the execution were emotional afterward, Walburn said.

"They were looking for closure and obviously they did not get that," she said.

How'd you like the headline? I was also considering, 'You're So Vein.' I'm not a big fan of the death penalty because we've killed several innocent people in this country in the name of justice, but when we're completely sure the guy is guilty then I'm wildly in favor of it. In fact, if there's definitive DNA evidence then I'm in favor of public beheadings or hangings. You know, something to keep the sheep in the flock.

That's why I think the cops should just crack this dude over the skull with a frying pan and then kill him Dexter style.