Court rejects inmate’s appeal to execution after surviving first attempt

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On Monday, the United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Romell Broom to stop a second execution attempt after the Ohio death row inmate survived the first execution.

Broom, the second person in U.S. history to survive an execution attempt, lost the appeal 6-2, despite arguing that a second execution would be double jeopardy as well as cruel and unusual punishment.

Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan supported the appeal, noting that the execution attempt happened under “especially cruel and unusual circumstances.”

Then-Gov. Ted Strickland stopped the first attempted execution two hours in after Broom had been stuck with 18 needles while looking for a vein for the lethal injection. After an hour, a part-time doctor was called to assist in the execution despite not having experience in execution training, though the additional medical personnel did nothing to finish the execution.

Broom, who was convicted for the 1984 rape and murder of 14-year-old Tryna Middleton, remains on death row, though there is no date set yet for his second execution.