Nov. 15
OHIO----botched execution stopped and postponed
Execution called off; won't happen today
Alva Campbell, Jr.'s execution was called off this morning, after medical
personnel were unable to locate a vein to absorb the 3-drug cocktail used as
part of the lethal injection process.
"We're not going to rush to execute someone," Ohio Department of Rehabilitation
and Correction Director Gary Mohr said before the procedure was called off
completely.
The execution effort was halted after prison personnel spent at least 25
minutes trying to find a suitable vein in both of Campbell's arms and in his
right leg. They appeared to palpate veins in both arms and the right leg.
As personnel worked on his leg, after stopping with his arms, Campbell removed
his glasses and held his hand to his eyes, wiping his eyes.
A staff member patted him on the shoulder and 2 others shook Campbell's hand.
Campbell then put on his glasses and sat with his hands in his lap as his pants
leg was rolled down and sock pulled up.
Reporters in the witness rooms were escorted out at 11:25 and told there would
be a briefing from ODRC Director Gary Mohr on what happened.
It is unclear if the execution will still occur.
The 69-year-old Campbell was scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m.
Campbell, 69, shot 18-year-old Charles Dials to death after overpowering a
sheriff's deputy in Franklin County, taking her gun and stealing Dials' truck.
At the time of the crime, Campbell was on parole after being convicted of
killing a man in Cleveland.
He was scheduled to die by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional
Facility in Lucasville.
Campbell exhausted all of his appeals and clemency bids, including one before
the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Tuesday denied his motion to stay the
execution of his death sentence.
Campbell was to be the 56th person put to death in Ohio since the state enacted
its current death penalty law in 1981 and the 3rd execution this year. 20
protestors demonstrated outside the prison on Wednesday.
Ohio has sentenced 324 people to death - some more than once - since 1981,
according to data through December 2016 from Ohio Attorney General's 2016
Capital Crimes Report.
Campbell on Tuesday morning was transported to the Lucasville prison, where the
execution chamber is located.
Campbell made 2 phone calls Tuesday night, one of which did not go through, and
had visits from the attorneys who will witness his execution. Smith said he ate
part of his special meal and slept through the night.
Campbell has multiple health problems, including issues with his veins. He has
asthma, emphysema and requires an external colostomy bag, according to court
filings and parole board testimony. The state agreed to use a wedge pillow to
help him partially sit up on the execution gurney because of his breathing
problems. Smith said 2 tests of his veins showed that they will be accessible
for injection.
Campbell's federal public defender, David Stebbins, cited his health problems,
along with his violence-filled childhood, in an effort to stop the execution.
Federal and state courts, the Ohio Parole Board and Ohio Governor John Kasich
all rejected efforts by Campbell to be spared death. He received the death
penalty after his 1998 conviction on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated
robbery, kidnapping, felonious assault, escape and other offenses in Franklin
County Common Pleas Court.
In October, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz in Dayton rejected
Campbell's request to be executed by firing squad. Stebbins said the request
was made as an alternative to lethal injection because of concerns Campbell may
not have accessible veins suitable for the 3-drug lethal injection combination
that Ohio uses to execute prisoners.
A reporter for the Dayton Daily News is 1 of 5 reporters scheduled to witness
the execution. Witnesses for the victim include Dials' sister, brother and
uncle, according to Smith. Witnesses for Campbell include Stebbins, 2 other
attorneys and a friend.
In an interview, Stebbins said he has witnessed other executions at Ohio's
execution chamber.
"It's awfully sterile. It's like being in a hospital but they are executing the
guy," Stebbins said. "It's very cold. They try to keep it solemn."
Ohio paused executions three years ago after controversy over the prolonged
execution of Dennis McGuire, 53, of Preble County using a previously untested
combination of lethal injection drugs, midazolam and hydromorphone. McGuire
gasped and snorted in the 26 minutes it took for him to die in January 2014.
In 2015, Ohio Governor John Kasich said the state would not switch to
alternative execution methods, such as firing squad or hanging. Earlier this
year, he delayed executions while awaiting a federal court ruling challenging
lethal injection procedures.
Executions resumed on July 26, when Ronald R. Phillips, 43, was executed for
the 1993 death of a 3-year-old girl he had raped and beaten.
Then, on Sept. 13, the state executed Gary Otte, 45, who killed 2 people in a
Cleveland suburb in 1992.
The 3-drug combination now used in Ohio begins with midazolam hydrochloride and
ends with potassium chloride, which stops the heart. The 2nd drug used is
chosen from a list of 3: vecuronium bromide, pancuronium bromide or rocuronium
bromide.
Campbell has a long criminal history. He was first convicted at age 19 in 1967
of shooting a state trooper, armed robbery and grand larceny. He was paroled in
1971 and then shot a man to death during a robbery in Cleveland in 1972.
Campbell received a life sentence for 1st-degree murder but was paroled after
20 years.
In 1997, he was arrested in Franklin County, this time for aggravated robbery.
He had been shot during the robbery and pretended to be paralyzed as he was
driven by a Franklin County deputy from the Jackson Pike Jail for his
arraignment in Franklin County Municipal Court. Campbell then overpowered
Deputy Teresa Harrison and took her gun as she attempted to help him out of her
vehicle at the loading dock, according to a narrative from court records
included in the Parole Board report.
Dials, who was at the court to pay a traffic ticket, was driving away in his
pickup truck when Campbell stopped him, pulled open the door, forced Dials to
move over and drove off. Campbell later ordered Dials to get onto the floor
board of his truck and shot him twice, killing him.
Campbell was captured after stealing another car and attempting to kidnap 2
other people and then hiding in a tree, where authorities found him after a
chase.
(source: Dayton Daily News)
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