Ohio Execution; Staff Struggle To Find Inmate's Veins

Ohio Execution; Staff Struggle To Find Inmate's Veins

May:23AM

LUCASVILLE, Ohio - Prison staff struggled Thursday to insert shunts in the
arms of a man scheduled to die for killing a prison cellmate because he got
tired of the cellmate giving up during chess games.

Christopher Newton's scheduled execution time of 10 a.m. Passed, and members
of the prison medical staff needed about 20 minutes to insert a shunt in the
left arm and had spent at least 30 minutes working on the right arm, said
Leo Jennings, a spokesman for Attorney General Marc Dann.

"They can't find the vein, they can't find an insertion point," Jennings
said.

Newton was still in his holding cell and had not been brought into the
death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Jennings said.

A year ago, inmate Joseph Lewis Clark's execution was delayed more than an
hour because the team could not find a suitable vein.

Newton, 37, who declined to seek any appeals in his case and did not ask
Gov. Ted Strickland for clemency, had no late legal actions pending.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

ACLU Action Alert

Contact the governor immediately! The State of Ohio had another botched
execution, resulting in what some might call torture.

Governor Ted Strickland
Phone:
Fax:
E-mail: http://apps.das.ohio.gov/govpublic/contact.aspx

Christopher Newton's execution time was 10:00 a.m. this morning, but members
of the prison medical staff needed about 20 minutes to insert a shunt in the
left arm and spent at least 30 minutes working on the right arm. They had
trouble finding a vein.
More than 2 hours later, the State was still trying to execute Christopher
Newton.

This is not the first time this has happened. It happened with Joseph Lewis
Clark in May 2006 when the execution was delayed more than an hour because
the team could not find a suitable vein.

There continue to be serious problems with Ohio's death penalty procedures
that demand an immediate halt to executions so that a thorough study of the
death penalty system may be conducted.

Having one botched execution is too many; that Ohio has now had two botched
executions in one year is intolerable.
Learn more about the death penalty, by clicking here

www.acluohio.org/issues/DeathPenalty/default.asp

Stand up! Get active! Make some noise! Our new website has all the tools you
need to restore lost liberty.

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