Romell Broom of Ohio, who survived an attempted lethal execution in 2009, reportedly died Monday from suspected coronavirus complications.
Ohio tried to execute Broom in 2009 by lethal injection, according to the Associated Press (AP). However, technicians were unable to find a suitable vein after 18 tries, leaving Broom in tears.
Broom was sent back to death row where he unsuccessfully fought to avoid any attempts at a second execution. His most recent execution date was scheduled for June, but Republican Gov. Mike DeWine issued a reprieve and pushed the new date to March 2022, according to the AP.
However, Broom died Monday and was placed on a “COVID probable list” which is run by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, according to the AP. Inmates on the list are suspected of having died from COVID-19 pending a death certificate. (RELATED: Belarusian Government Accused Of Letting COVID-19 Spread In Prisons Packed With Its President’s Critics)
Broom’s attorney’s, Timothy Sweeney and Adele Shank said that Broom lived “with the ever-increasing fear and distress that the same process would be used on him at his next execution date,” and that his natural death was a sign, according to the report.
“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,” they said in a statement, according to the report.
Broom was given the death sentence for raping and killing 14-year old Tryna Middleton in 1984, according to the AP.
Aside from Ohio’s moratorium on the death penalty, DeWine recently said that prisoners would be a high priority for receiving the vaccination as prisons see a spike in new infections, according to Cleveland.com.
In April, the Marion Correctional Institution was the number-one COVID-19 hotspot in the nation, according to Cleveland.com.
Mary’s son who has tested positive for COVID-19 at The Marion Correctional Institution sends her the letter he received from the prison letting him know hes tested positive for the virus in Ada, Ohio on May 4, 2020. -(Photo by MEGAN JELINGER/AFP via Getty Images)
DeWine then prioritized testing at prisons, though as of Dec. 15, 3.092 prison employees tested positive for the virus while cases among prisoners have also risen from 481 during September to roughly 500, according to the report.