Condemned Ohio Inmate's Execution Halted

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Ohio has called off the execution of a sick inmate 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 death row prisoner Alva Campbell 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.

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, due to be executed for a 1997 carjack killing, shook hands with two members of the execution team and wiped tears away.

Earlier on Wednesday, Campbell was brought into the state death chamber in a wheelchair. Attorneys argued that Campbell, who uses a walker, suffers breathing problems and may have lung cancer, should have been spared from the execution.

Spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said Wednesday that Campbell spent the morning praying with the prisons' agency religious services administrator and watching TV.

The 69-year-old Campbell lost his last appeal Tuesday when the US Supreme Court refused to stop the execution.