Executioners can't find vein for injection

LUCASVILLE, Ohio, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- An Ohio man sentenced for a 1984 killing got another week of life Tuesday after the execution team failed to find a vein to inject lethal drugs.

Executions spent almost two hours trying to find a vein to inject the drugs into Romell Broom, said Tim Sweeney, one of his lawyers, CNN reported.

"When such allegedly skilled professionals have taken this much time without successfully achieving IV access, there comes a point of diminishing returns, and a point when further attempts are cruel and counterproductive," Sweeney wrote to Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer. "I believe we have reached that point here."

Gov. Ted Strickland granted a one-week reprieve.

Broom, 52, was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 14-year-old girl in East Cleveland.

The execution had been scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the state prison in Lucasville but was then delayed until 1 p.m. to give lawyers time for a last-minute federal appeal.

Prison officials described Broom as calm after his arrival Monday morning in Lucasville, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. He made no special request for his last meal and had no visitors.