Romell Broom: Ohio death row inmate who survived getting injected 18 times dies from Covid-19 complications
A convicted murderer in Ohio who survived the death chamber a decade ago has died of possible coronavrius complications. Romell Broom, 64, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Tryna Middleton in 1984, died at the Franklin Medical Center on Monday, December 28, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said Wednesday, NBC News reported. "As of today, his death is considered a probable COVID-19 related death, pending his death certificate," department spokesperson Sara French told the outlet.
French also added that Broom has been placed on the "Covid probably list" maintained by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Inmates on the list are suspected to have died of the virus, pending a death certificate.
His death came 11 years after a botched execution attempt in 2009 saw Broom pierced with a lethal injection a total of 18 times over a period of two hours. Executioners apparently failed to find a vein on him as he reportedly cried and screamed with pain during the ordeal. After the prison officials gave up, he was returned to his cell and freshly put on death row again in the state. His execution was rescheduled for March 2022. At the time, he became only the second inmate nationally to survive a modern-day execution.
Broom had abducted his victim in Cleveland as she walked home from a football game with two friends, before stabbing her to death.
In 2016, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered for Broom to be put to death ‘again’, which caused his lawyers to argue that a second attempt by the state to put him to death would constitute a “cruel and unusual punishment." They also argued that such an ordeal was banned under the US Constitution, additionally claiming that the order violates America’s double jeopardy law. As per the law, criminals people can’t be punished for the same offense more than once. However, the court ruled that the last try didn’t count as Broom wasn't injected with any lethal drugs. As a result, the way was cleared for another attempt.
While his execution was originally scheduled for June this year, Governor Mike DeWine issued a reprieve and set a new date for March 2022 in the spring. After the news of his death from the novel virus, attorneys for the convict, Timothy Sweeney and Adele Shank, said: "Let his passing in this way, and not in the execution chamber, be the final word on whether a second attempt should ever have been considered." Shank also added that his legal team was "sorry that he is gone and sorry that he lived his last days on death row,"
According to the Marshall Project, one in five prisoners in the U.S. has been infected with COVID-19, which is four times higher than the general population. Experts say that the number of inmates infected is undercounted. In Ohio, one in six prisoners has tested positive for the virus, according to the Marshall Project, and 124 inmates have died from confirmed or probable cases of Covid.