Ohio Botches Another One

The State of Ohio took decency to seldom-plumbed depths on Tuesday, September 15, with the attempted execution of 53-year-old Romell Broom.

Attempted execution? Yes, attempted. As in, they tried to do it and failed. They tried and tried again, for over two hours, unable to find a suitable vein. At length, the execution team itself had to take a break. The execution was delayed a week and Broom was returned to his holding cell.

The execution team had to take a break? Give us a break. If trying to kill a man for two hours and failing is not considered ‘cruel and unusual,' under the Constitution or any other construction of decency, then that notion has no meaning in 21^st-century America.

The state took its best shot and failed to deliver the coup de grace to Romell Broom. He should now be returned to a cell and allowed to live out his days in prison. I urge Governor Ted Strickland to commute his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

To be clear, I feel no compassion for this man, Romell Broom. He is not a good man. He richly deserves to die in prison for his crimes.

His rap sheet is peppered with robbery, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and other charges beginning when he was just 13. At age 19, Broom raped his niece's 12-year-old babysitter, and was sentenced to 7 to 25 years in prison for that crime. He was paroled in May 1984 after serving a mere 8 years – one-third of his sentence.

Four months into his parole, in September 1984, he stalked, kidnapped, raped, and murdered 14-year-old Tryna Middleton. A few weeks later, he kidnapped another girl, an 11-year-old; she escaped from his moving car. He was sentenced to death for Tryna Middleton's murder; he has been in prison since October 1985.

Governor Strickland will have legal justification for whatever he decides to do. If he decides to try another execution, he will be able to cite the 1946 case of Willie Francis. The State of Louisiana tried and failed to electrocute Francis. After a year, the Supreme Court decided it would not be a cruel and unusual punishment for the state to try again. This time the state succeeded.

Or, if Governor Strickland decides to commute Broom's sentence, he may have Title 29, Chapter 2949 of the Ohio Revised Code on his side. The Code requires that the method of execution “quickly and painlessly cause death.” The State's attempts to execute Romell Broom were neither quick nor painless, and there is no reason to believe that will change in a week.

The Governor will have to look beyond the law in making his decision. He will have to examine his own conscience and senses of decency and morality. I believe he should commute Broom's sentence. One attempt is enough.

As a moral and decent people, we should not sanction killings by the state in our name. And we certainly should not endorse multiple attempts to carry out a death sentence.

Romell Broom is not a good man; he warrants no compassion. But this is no longer about Romell Broom. It is about us.