Ohio prison officials said death row inmate Romell Broom, who survived an attempted execution by lethal injection in 2009, died Monday at the age of 64 from possible COVID-19 complications.
Sarah French, a spokesman for the state prison system, told The Columbus Dispatch that Broom was placed on the “COVID probability list” maintained by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The list includes inmates suspected of death from the coronavirus, pending death certificates.
Broom became the second national inmate to survive an attempted execution in 2009.
When 53 years old, the convict wept in pain during the failed attempt to put him to death via lethal injection, the outlet said. The execution was called off after two hours because technicians could not find a suitable vein.
Bloom’s lawyers argued that he should not be subject to a second execution attempt and filed arguments in the Supreme Court, The Dispatch noted.
Attorneys Timothy Sweeney and Adele Shank said in a statement that Broom survived in 2009 “to live with the ever-increasing fear and grief that the same process would be used on him on his next execution date.”
“Let his death in this way, and not in execution room, be the final word on whether a second attempt should ever have been considered,” the lawyers said.
The Dispatch reported that since the introduction of the electric chair, only three other death row inmates in the United States survived the initial attempts at execution after the trial started.
Broom was sentenced to death in 1984 after being convicted of raping and murdering 14-year-old Tryna Middleton after kidnapping her in Cleveland.
The inmate returned to death row after his failed execution attempt and had not scheduled a second date until June. Gov. Mike DeWine
Mike DeWine Deadest Month of COVID-19 Pandemic December DeWine: Midwest Governors Strengthen Relationships During Pandemic Battle Against “Common Enemy” Sunday Show Preview: COVID-19 Relief Await Trump’s Signature; government continues to roll out MORE vaccines (R) has granted a postponement and pushed it back to March 2022.
Earlier this month, DeWine announced that lethal injections will no longer be an option for the death penalty in the future.
“Lethal injection seems practically impossible to us today,” said DeWine.