Ohio inmate who survived '09 execution appeals to high court

Associated Press ^ | August 23, 2016 | Associated Press

[CorporateStepsister]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A condemned Ohio killer who survived a 2009 botched execution is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to declare that a second attempt to put him to death would be unconstitutional.

Lawyers for death row inmate Romell Broom argue that giving the state prisons agency a second chance would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and double jeopardy.

A divided Ohio Supreme Court rejected Broom's arguments in March. Broom's attorneys appealed that ruling earlier this month to the U.S. Supreme Court and filed notice of that appeal on Monday with the state court.

The state stopped Broom's execution after two hours when executioners failed to find a usable vein following 18 attempts to insert needles.

[factoryrat]

Double jeopardy. The state botched the execution. No do-over, and life in prison with no chance of parole for the condemned.

[Sopater]

Even Snopes says "NO".

[atomic conspiracy]

It’s time to end this macabre farce of “lethal injection.” If the state and its minions don’t have the guts to use bullets, ropes, or the guillotine, they should let the offender rot.

[treetopsandroofs]

“He was already officially punished for his crime. Just because the outcome of the punishment didn’t turn out the way the officials desired is irrelevant. Punishing him again IS double jeopardy.”

Even Snopes disagrees with you.

http://www.snopes.com/legal/second.asp

[Jim Noble]

executioners failed to find a usable vein following 18 attempts to insert needles

There's a big one in the center of the chest, just to the right of the sternum. You can find it easily with a #30.06.

[DoughtyOne]

If he’s on death row, he killed people.

Did they get a reprieve? Do they come back to life?

[Rycat91]

Wasn’t meant to be.

[Ouderkirk]

No...I don’t agree.

That they couldn’t find a vein to insert the needle is not divine providence. It’s dumb luck.

[SandRat]

Wouldn’t happen with a fully loaded Chicago TypeWritter

[EQAndyBuzz]

“And he can’t prove “cruel and unusual” without demonstrating intent.”

I think the intent was to kill him. Personally, I am for the guillotine. Even if the blade is dull, something 80+ pounds dropping on your neck from 15 feet up is going to kill you.

The death penalty should involve removing the head from the body.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I’m surprised at the number of respondents here who are liberal on this issue. Just an observation. They agree with the liberals that you shouldn’t be able to execute him because the first attempt failed. I find that interesting on a conservative site such as this one.

[JamesP81]

On a side note this is not the first time lethal injection has taken an unacceptable amount of time to gain the end result. It should be abolished and we should go back to hanging.

I'm in agreement with this. It has many advantages.

1) There is no need for a bizarre drug cocktail that the supplier might decide to stop supplying. Rope is simple and easy.

2) It's effective. Done correctly, it severs the spinal cord and precludes any unnecessary suffering, satisfying the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

3) I think this is the most important one. Lethal Injection is used because it's easier for spectators to watch. Execution should not be sugar coated for the public. The voters have determined that this is a part of our justice system, and it should be viewable by the public in such a way that you can't pretend it's not happening. Hanging is violent, as it should be. This will force people to think about the subject more and make informed decisions about when to use it.

[Ray76]

Suppose the sentence was to hang by the neck until dead, and the trap door failed to open. The hanging would be rescheduled while the equipment failure would be corrected.

[Trentamj]

Personally, I can, as an alternative to capital punishment, live with a sentence of life with no chance of parole which, to me, would be a perfectly-adequate substitute. The main reason that I hold on to the death penalty is because the Left never understands the meaning of the term "life imprisonment," so they essentially force their opponents' hands toward the extreme position of the death-penalty as the maximum punishment. Now, given that this person fully-suffered a botched execution, I would not be opposed, in this particular case, to a natural life sentence instead.

[Yogafist]

So is keeping him in jail double jeopardy? His penalty was death, and they tried but couldn’t accomplish it.

[Genoa]

Yes, head and body should be separated. “Capital” punishment. Capitis, of the head.

[shotgun]

Their argument is like saying that they failed to execute him because no one could tie the hangman’s knot so they sent him back to his cell...

[JimRed]

I can live without the death penalty, provided the alternative makes the criminal WISH for death. (with thanks to a FReeper)

That'd be me...Thank you for thanking me!

[Carriage Hill]

And those TommyGuns rarely make typos.

[JimRed]

Long needle, direct injection into the heart.