Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
OHIO IS ALLOWED execute a condemned killer seven years after prison authorities tried and failed to do it the first time.
Romell Broom cried in pain after receiving 18 needle sticks during a 2009 botched execution that was called off after two hours.
The Ohio Supreme Court has now ruled by a vote of 4-3 that the state prisons agency can carry out a second execution.
In doing so, the court rejected arguments that it would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and double jeopardy.
Prosecutors had argued double jeopardy doesn’t apply because lethal drugs never entered Broom’s veins while executioners unsuccessfully tried to hook up an IV. They also said a previously unsuccessful execution attempt doesn’t affect the constitutionality of his death sentence.
Broom’s solicitors called the ruling disappointing and said they were exploring “additional legal remedies.”
Ohioans to Stop Executions, the state’s largest anti-death penalty group, called on Gov. John Kasich to commute Broom’s sentence to life without parole.
With a federal appeal of the ruling likely, a second execution is years away. In addition, Ohio already has more than two dozen death row inmates with firm execution dates but no lethal drugs to use on them.
Broom was sentenced to die for raping and killing 14-year-old Tryna Middleton after abducting her in Cleveland in 1984 as she walked home from a football game with two friends.
Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger sided with the state in the case, saying the execution never began because the drugs weren’t administered.
“Because Broom’s life was never at risk since the drugs were not introduced, and because the state is committed to carrying out executions in a constitutional manner, we do not believe that it would shock the public’s conscience to allow the state to carry out Broom’s execution,” Lanzinger wrote.
The majority opinion said it was unclear why Broom’s veins couldn’t be accessed, a fact that brings the rejection of his appeal into question, Justice Judi French wrote in a dissent:
If the state cannot explain why the Broom execution went wrong, then the state cannot guarantee that the outcome will be different next time.
His 2009 execution was stopped by then-Governor Ted Strickland after an execution team tried for two hours to find a suitable vein. Broom has said he was stuck with needles at least 18 times, with pain so intense he cried and screamed.
An hour into the execution, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction recruited a part-time prison doctor with no experience or training with executions to try — again, unsuccessfully — to find a vein.
Broom, 59, has been back on death row since. No new execution date has been set.
Broom’s appeals in federal court were on hold while the state court heard the constitutional arguments.
Broom was told of the decision and is in good spirits, said defence attorneys Timothy Sweeney and Adele Shank.
The state’s top public defender said it’s long been understood that the government gets one attempt at an execution.
“Whether you believe it’s the hand of God or just basic government failure, as happened in this case, they don’t get to do this again,” said Tim Young, head of the Ohio Public Defender’s Office.
The 18 times Broom was stuck with needles as he lay strapped to a gurney demonstrate the execution had begun, said Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions.
The governor’s office wasn’t yet aware of the group’s petition or request for mercy, said spokesman Joe Andrews.
Relive the pain
Requiring Broom to endure another execution attempt would double up his punishment by forcing him to relive the pain he’s already been through, Shank and Sweeney argued last year.
During a June hearing, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor asked Shank about a prison official’s testimony that Broom may have caused the problems with his veins by ingesting an entire box of antihistamines the day before to dehydrate himself.
Shank, in seeking to rebut the state’s argument about purposeful hydration, said she saw Broom drinking coffee the day of the execution. Chris Schroeder, an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor, said the antihistamines allegation was not part of the state’s argument.
In 1947, Louisiana electrocuted 18-year-old Willie Francis by electric chair a year after an improperly prepared electric chair failed to work. The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to allow the second execution to proceed, rejecting double jeopardy arguments.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The authorities really need to rein this practice in
If 6500 horses were slaughtered for their meat with Dept of Agriculture approval, where is the market for this meat and is it sold as stated ie horse meat for human consumption so the purchaser is aware of exactly what it is they are buying ,my concern naturally is that it is being sold as beef.Additionally what health record is kept of these animals prior to slaughter, I assume the same standards relating to beef apply and the same age profile of animals ie 36 months at slaughter is also the rule and that these animals are veterinary assessed through their lives.
@Honeybee: horse meat is popular on the continent, that’s where it usually goes from factories here. Horses are to have a record of all medications on their passports, are are listed as either on or off the human consumption lists, depending on the medications and owners preferences. They do not require testing for tb, which is the biggest testing for cattle. No age profile, as this was brought in for cattle due to the instances of bse in older stock.
@Honeybee: fact is that veterinary standards for horses going to the factory is more stringent than that of cattle
@Liam Carlin: are more stringent
Giddy up
Would want to be a very fast horse nowadays not to get eaten.
What’s a microship?
@Doz: A boat
@Peter: A very small ship
@Doz: It’s a small ferry-shaped object used subcutaneously to identify an animal; not to be confused with a microchip, a large silicon wafer used to transport people and goods between islands. Confusingly, microchips sometimes carry animals carrying microships. :)
@Doz: I think they come with pocket battleship.
We’re already eating chlorinated chicken from Brazil, just labelled “Made in Ireland” as it’s cooked, sliced, diced and packaged here.
Shergar burger anyone !!.
@tommytukamomo: A stallion should never be mixed with a scallion
It seems unbelievably crude
That the kindred of Shergar
Could get mixed in a burger
In Monaghan’s Silvercrest food
Why the long face?
Ate the goverment asleep?? And the ESB scandal went unnoticed also
Is there a health risk with eating horse meat?
@Coco86: It’s not great for the horse…
@Coco86: No, if the horse is/has been checked by Veterinary professional at time of slaughter.
@Coco86: yes, in that it’s not traceable and so is not properly regulated.
@Coco86: Yes , if the horse has been on certain medications , the horse is not considered fit for human consumption. Horses are meant to be chipped and if given those meds , that would need to be recorded on their passport .
@Coco86: it was reported on the news that the horses were unfit for human consumption hence the falsifying of paperwork.
@Coco86: ya can get the trots
Springer’s final thought;
Who was supplying incorrectly labelled horsemeat throughout Europe?
Mafia et al.
Who do they need to get rid of?
Lots of people who may negatively impact profits.
What did folk not test for in meat samples?
Human DNA.
Let that one sink in over dinner folks ;)
Well horse, how’s she cuttin’.
What’s with the long face sir? Not enjoying ur burger?
Meat products like certain foods say may contain nuts etc … Should say may contain other meats .
Does anyone actually regularly buy horse meat?
@Hardly Normal: its popular on the continent not so much here.
@Hardly Normal: I lived in Holland around 2003 and someone told me they were into it over there.. I was a vegetarian at the time so I didnt investigate it further..haha…but that’s as far as my horse eating knowledge goes..
@Hardly Normal: the belgians
It appears that the journal.ie don’t want certain establishments mentioned
Free press is certainly not alive and well where these shower are concerned
@builditnow: well let’s just say the biggest restraunt in Ireland
Have certainly brough their chickens home to roost all the way from twiwan
All the laughs and Jokes and many stupid comments above indicate that some people don’t mind if our international reputation is again destroyed and export income is lost and the result of that sort of effect means less money to pay the bills and the social welfare and all the rest of the costs of running this little Republic . Shame on those gangsters whoever They are ! It’s isn’t a laughing matter at all at all.
@Terry Cahill: Just remember that the firm which owned and operated the operation with the rotten imported Polish horse meat was owned by Europe’s biggest beef baron and he used the ensuing stink as an excuse to reduce the price he was paying to his own Irish suppliers AND GOT AWAY WITH IT.
@Terry Cahill: could not agree with you more. Why is there always some b……..ls cropping up every so often, destroying the reputation. And no heads will roll, vets, managers or owners.Saints and scholars…….
@John Mc Donagh: again same old, same old as i mentioed above
To many neigh sayers on this site.
Christ lads if ye knew where mc Donald’s are sourcing their chicken ,you never look at a chicken again
Couldn’t eat a whole one, maybe a fallabella with chips and a Coke!
Ahhh horsesh#t…
Steak Tartare ..
Expensive when you can get it
What are the odds for a bovine only burger.
Must have got the hind leg of a one from ballydoyle last night in the chipper I scorched up the town to back a looser
Is it illegal to eat horse meat?
@sb: Only if you’re an ass!
Neigh,not again
on holidays in France at the min had horse steak twice it’s bloody lovely
Here we go again!
have your say