Romell Broom (born 4 June 1956) is an American convicted of murder, kidnapping, and rape. He was convicted in 1984 of abducting and killing Tryna Middleton, age 14, who was walking home from a football game in East Cleveland, Ohio. In 2003, Broom took up an offer from the state of Ohio for a DNA test to prove his innocence—however, the test results failed to prove his innocence.[1] The clemency hearing concluded that "the DNA report does not indicate an exact match, but does indicate that the likelihood of Broom [not] being the donor is 1 in 2.3 million. Otherwise stated, eight or nine other black males in the country would have the same profile."[2]
Broom also has convictions for robbery, aggravated robbery and four counts of kidnap of a male child. He was also convicted in a separate incidence of raping a female child.[3]
Broom was scheduled to be executed on 15 September 2009. However, the executioners tried for two hours to maintain an IV line through which they could inject the lethal drugs, before Ohio Governor Ted Strickland issued a one-week reprieve.[4] Broom's lawyers argue that his first execution attempt was cruel and unusual punishment, and that executing him would mean that his evidence would be "irretrievably lost" for their broader lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Ohio’s lethal injection procedure.[5] U.S. District Court Judge Gregory L. Frost scheduled a 30 November 2009 hearing on the issues.[6] As of June 2010, Broom was awaiting the outcome of an appeal.[7]