Romell Broom died from COVID-19 on December 28, 2020, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. He is the second death-row inmate in Ohio to die from the coronavirus. At least 17 people sentenced to death in four states have died from COVID-19. Following a COVID-19 outbreak spread by prior executions, at least 14 federal death-row prisoners in Terre Haute, Indiana have tested positive for the virus, including Cory Johnson and Dustin Higgs, who are scheduled for execution in January 2021, previously discussed here.
The State of Ohio tried to execute Mr. Broom by lethal injection on September 15, 2009. Prison staff struggled for more than two hours trying to find a suitable vein, poking needles in his arms and legs 18 times and striking a bone on one occasion. Mr. Broom’s case “is one of the most significant botched executions in American history,” DPIC executive director Robert Dunham told cleveland.com. “This case, more than any other, demonstrates the dangers in attempting to carry out these procedures. Lethal injection has the appearance of a medical procedure, but it is carried out by non-medical personnel.”
After the botched attempt to execute him, Mr. Broom was returned to death row, where he fought unsuccessfully to avoid a second execution. His most recent execution date was set for June 2020 after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled against his arguments that a second execution would violation the Constitution’s Double Jeopardy Clause and constitute cruel and unusual punishment. But Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued a reprieve and rescheduled the execution for March 16, 2022 due to the unavailability of lethal injection drugs. Mr. Broom survived the 2009 execution “only to live with the ever-increasing fear and distress that the same process would be used on him at his next execution date,” attorneys Timothy Sweeney and Adele Shank said in a statement.