December 12, 2016
CONTACT: Abraham Bonowitz
561-371-5204, abe@otse.org
The US Supreme Court today declined to consider an Ohio Supreme Court ruling to allow a second attempt at executing a man who spent two hours enduring at least 18 needle jabs in a botched 2009 execution attempt, Ohioans to Stop Executions has updated its petition calling on Governor Kasich to show mercy to Romell Broom by commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment.
The petition features a photo of Broom taken by Dr. Jon Groner, a leading expert on lethal injection who examined Broom several days after the execution attempt was aborted. The photo documents the many locations executioners attempted to insert the intravenous needle through which lethal doses of drugs would have been injected.
“I give blood regularly, and there’s always that moment of worry before they insert the needle,” said Groner. “I can only imagine what it must have been like to lay there for two hours getting poked over and over. Anyone who looks at that photo knows that we put that man through a significant ordeal. I don’t think he should have to go through it a second time.”
“The real torture of the death penalty is the wait,” said Abraham Bonowitz, Communications Director for the statewide group. “We know from those who have received last-minute stays that those final few days and hours are incredibly stressful. Romell Broom has suffered the mental torture of execution already, and he will suffer plenty more with a commutation to life without parole. That’s why we call on Governor Kasich to do exactly that. Today. In granting clemency Governor Kasich will turn off the spotlight on the offender, prevent a re-traumatization of the execution team, and allow the victims family to put this behind them and begin to heal.”
The petition is here: http://action.otse.org/page/s/clemency-for-romell-broom
Dr. Groner is available for interviews.