On September 15, 2009, Romell Broom was lying on a gurney inside Ohio’s execution chamber. He had been sentenced to death for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a 14-year-old girl in 1984.
That day, the state was supposed to carry out his sentence by lethal injection. But something went terribly wrong.
For about two hours, officials tried to find a vein into which they could insert the IV. They attempted to do so in 18 different places on his arms and legs. During one attempt, the needle struck bone.
And while those tasked with executing him couldn’t find a suitable vein, a scene difficult to imagine unfolded: Broom began helping them.
After about an hour, he shifted onto his side, slid the rubber tubing up his arm, and flexed his fingers, trying to make his veins more visible. They eventually found a vein, but it collapsed when they tried to administer the saline solution. Officials had to keep searching.
The attempts continued in his legs. Broom grimaced in pain and, according to reports, eventually covered his face with his hands as he appeared to sob. One member of the team even handed him a roll of toilet paper, which he used to wipe his eyes.
After more than two hours without managing to establish an IV, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland ordered the execution suspended. It was not a decision based on clemency: the state announced that it would review the procedure and later try to find a way to execute him again.
And that’s when another legal battle began.
Broom argued that subjecting him to another execution attempt could violate his constitutional rights. But in 2016, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 against his arguments and allowed the state to try to execute him a second time. In 2020, a new execution date was even set.
However, that second execution never took place.
Romell Broom remained on death row until he died on December 28, 2020, at age 64. Prison authorities initially included him among the probable COVID-19 cases, and his death was later reported as resulting from complications related to the virus.
Thus, Broom went down in history as one of the few people sentenced to death who survived an execution attempt by lethal injection. His case also left a question that is difficult to ignore: what happens when the state tries to execute a person and the procedure itself fails in such an extreme way?