After months of warnings that a death row inmate was too sick to be executed, the state tried and failed to carry out his lethal injection. It's only the third time in modern U.S history that an execution was halted after it began.
Convicted killer Alva Campbell was in the execution chamber lying on the table for more than 20 minutes but the medical staff couldn’t find a viable vein.
Gov. John Kasich, who was monitoring the attempted execution from a different location, ultimately called it off.
Lynn Hulsey of the Dayton Daily News says the staff tried to stick Campbell’s arm for a while, then tried his ankle.
“It’s just notable how gentle they were with him and a couple of them you could see them reach out and pat him on the shoulder as they went through the process.”
But the ACLU, which opposes executions, called the process “torture” for Campbell.
Kasich announced the new execution date has been set for June 2019.
Copyright 2017 The Statehouse News Bureau
