The Death Penalty and War Veterans

Let me start with an old, but still relevant news account from the funeral of Manny Babbitt:

Manny Babbitt, the 50-year-old Wareham native, executed a week ago for the 1980 murder of an elderly Sacramento woman, was buried yesterday with military honors, including a flag-draped casket, a rifle salute and bugler playing "Taps." Nestled atop a grassy knoll and sandwiched between blossoming fruit trees and evergreens, Mr. Babbitt's final resting place is an oasis of tranquillity compared to the chaos of his tortured life. Mr. Babbitt was convicted of assaulting and killing Leah Schendel, a diminutive, 78-year-old Romanian grandmother whose South Sacramento apartment he broke into on the night of Dec. 18, 1980. A jury two years later sentenced him to death. Seeking a sense of closure on Mr. Babbitt's life, more than 300 people gathered yesterday for a memorial at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. It was followed by a graveside ceremony that included full military honors for the decorated Vietnam veteran.

Washington has at least two men on death row who served their country in violent conflicts.

More to follow.....

An account of the failed execution of Broom

For more than two hours, the team attempted to insert two shunts into a vein of the compliant Broom, who tried several times to assist his executioners by shifting positions, rubbing his arm and pointing out possible usable veins. * * *
At one point, Broom, 53, lay back on his bed, covered his face with his hands, and cried. Another time, while sitting up, he was seen grimacing as the execution team appeared to seek a vein around his ankles.
A reprieve at this stage of an execution has never happened since the death penalty was reinstated in 1999, said Terry Collins, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. He said he called the governor and asked for the reprieve after it became clear the execution team was having trouble. "I could tell my team was becoming somewhat frustrated," Collins said. The reprieve extended only until Sept. 22 [until a federal judge granted a stay of execution to stop the expiration of the reprieve and prevent the execution from happening during the pendency of the court proceeding].
The drama played out before the family of Tryna Middleton . . . Tryna's mother and father, Bessye and David Middleton, were there to witness the execution, as was an aunt. They sat in front of a glass window through which they were expecting to see Broom die.
Instead, he never made it out of his nearby cell, where two shunts were to be installed in veins. The shunts allow three drugs to enter the veins and sedate, paralyze and kill the inmate. The family and others watched the preparation on closed-circuit monitors mounted in the witness area. A camera filmed Broom and captured much of the difficulty the execution team had, as well as Broom's frustration. Broom requested no witnesses initially, but about an hour into the process asked for his attorney, Adele Shank, to be present.
A visibly upset Shank appeared in the witness room not knowing of Broom's request but out of concern for the length of time for the execution. "The chief justice and the governor have been notified of what's going on," Shank said after the execution team spent 90 minutes trying to insert the shunts.
Collins said the execution team was able to access several veins but they collapsed once saline solution was administered. He defended the execution team and said: "They continued to do a job that most wouldn't do or couldn't do." . . .
Shank, Broom's lawyer, said she is considering additional appeals. "We don't want to see a repeat of this ever," she said.

It Can Happen Here, Too.

Many of you may have heard that the execution of Romell Broom, 53, in Ohio was postponed after technicians tried and failed for more than two hours to maintain an IV connection in order to inject him with lethal drugs.

Ohio wants to try to kill Mr. Broom, again. Further, they do not want to examine the process.

That does not mean there will be a review of the larger issue of lethal injections," a state official said last Wednesday. "That's been settled. Obviously yesterday demonstrated that we have a problem with this particular set of circumstances."

What the Ohio officials fail to recognize is that "this particular set of circumstances," is not something limited to one person. Instead, "this particular set of circumstances" is the act of killing another human being. This is only the last botched attempted execution if it is the last attempted execution.

It can happen here, too. In fact, it will unless we get out of the business of killing fellow humans.

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/romell-broom-execution-hold-over-unsuitable-veins