LUCASVILLE — The state called off the execution of Alva Campbell after several unsuccessful attempts to insert an IV.
Members of the Ohio execution team tried to find veins in the arms and right leg of the ailing death row prisoner for about 25 minutes before stopping.
Prisons director Gary Mohr said the team did its best but the condition of Campbell’s veins had changed since checks in Tuesday.
Campbell’s execution has reportedly been rescheduled for June 5, 2019, despite an immediate call for a moratorium on executions by the ACLU of Ohio, which called today’s attempt “state-sponsored torture.”
Campbell was poked and prodded for nearly two hours as prison officials and medical personnel attempted to find a useable vein. This type of state-sponsored torture is not acceptable and the state of Ohio must place a moratorium on executions immediately. –ACLU of Ohio senior policy director Mike Brickner
This is only the third time in U.S. history that an execution has been called off after the process has begun.
The execution was abruptly halted just after it appeared an IV was inserted in Campbell’s right leg.
Campbell was due to be executed for a 1997 carjack killing of a Columbus teenager.