Nov. 15 (UPI) — The execution of an ill Ohio inmate was called off on Wednesday and will be rescheduled after prison officials were unable to find a suitable vein.
Alva Campbell, 69, suffers from numerous medical conditions, including being allergic to midazolam, the sedative Ohio uses in its drug cocktail to carry out lethal injection procedures.
“Campbell suffers from lung cancer, COPD, respiratory failure, prostate cancer, hip replacement, and severe pneumonia,” Campbell’s lawyers wrote in a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Campbell must take oxygen treatments four times a day in order to function, and he relies on a walker for very limited mobility.”
His medical conditions might have created excruciating execution conditions that would violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment, the lawyers said.
The attempted execution was delayed for 45 minutes as prison officials attempted to locate a vein for the execution, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
“We are going to take our time,” Prison Director Gary Mohr said. NBC reported that prison officials said they would reschedule the execution.
The inmate was convicted of shooting 18-year-old Charles Dials in a carjacking following an escape from custody for armed robbery charges in 1997. Dials pretended he was paralyzed to escape.
Campbell was convicted of a string of armed robberies and other crimes, including shooting a state highway patrol officer, in 1967.
Growing up, Campbell’s father sexually abused his sisters and possibly the inmate himself. After his father was convicted of incest, he was taken from his mother when he and his sister went to a tavern begging for food. He later was placed in the foster care system where he was sexually abused by other boys.
