Preparations for Ohio execution halted pending appeal before full federal appeals court

Ohio execution preparations halted pending appeal

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — Ohio prison officials have halted execution preparations for a man who raped and stabbed to death a 14-year-old girl pending the results of an appeal before a full federal appeals court.

Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Julie Walburn said Tuesday that prison officials were holding off on final preparations for lethal injection of Romell Broom.

A panel of federal appeals court judges in Cincinnati sided late Monday with a district court against an appeal filed by Broom’s attorney. But the attorney then asked for a hearing before the full appeals court. At the 10 a.m. scheduled execution time, the court was still reviewing the request.

Officials were holding off on inserting shunts in Broom’s arms.

Broom was convicted of raping and stabbing 14-year-old Tryna Middleton to death in 1984.