Latest litigation update surrounding Ohio's unexecuted and re-execution plans (UPDATED with stay details)

This AP article provide the latest, but certainly not the last, update on the litigation surrounding Ohio's botched execution attempt this past Tuesday and its plans to try again this Tuesday.  Here are a few highlights:

An attorney for an Ohio inmate whose lethal injection failed this week asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to halt an unprecedented second execution attempt, and cited in a separate affidavit the inmate's claims that executioners hit muscle and bone when they tried to find a vein suitable for injection.

Tim Sweeney, an attorney for Romell Broom, also filed lawsuits in federal district court and in the Ohio Supreme Court in Columbus on Friday arguing that a second execution attempt, scheduled for Tuesday, would violate Broom's civil rights. If unsuccessful in achieving clemency for Broom, Sweeney will argue that he shouldn't be executed until a new procedure can be put in place that ensures what happened on Tuesday won't be repeated. And trying again only a week later would be "unconscionable," Sweeney said....

In an affidavit from Broom that was to be submitted as evidence in the federal district court filing, Broom said officials first tried three separate times to access a suitable vein in the middle of both arms. He said nurses told him to take a break after those six attempts, after which the nurse tried twice to access veins in the left arm.

"She must have hit a muscle because the pain made me scream out loud," Broom said. "The male nurse attempted three times to access veins in my right arm. The first time the male nurse successfully accessed a vein in my right arm. He attempted to insert the IV, but he lost it and blood started to run down my right arm. The female nurse left the room. The correction officer asked her if she was OK. She responded, 'No' and walked out.

"The death squad lead made a statement to the effect that this was hard on everyone and suggested that they take another break."

Officials later moved to Broom's feet to find an accessible vein. "During this attempt, the needle hit my bone and was very painful. I screamed," Broom said in the affidavit....

On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a public records request with the state in an attempt to learn information about the preparation for the first attempt, details about the attempt and information about preparations for the next scheduled attempt. The Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers sent Strickland a letter Thursday asking him to place a moratorium on Ohio executions given Tuesday's events.

A prisons spokeswoman said Thursday that officials at the Southern Ohio Corrections Facility where Broom is being kept in a cell in the infirmary in preparation for next week's attempt are monitoring how much he's drinking. Dehydration could make it more difficult to find veins, but the spokeswoman said there's no evidence that's what caused Tuesday's problems. In the affidavit, Broom said that on Monday, the day before the execution attempt, he drank seven cups of coffee, five cups of water and three cups of Kool-Aid.

Candidly, I will be a bit surprised if we make it though the weekend without some kind of stay ordered to prevent the state of Ohio from starting the execution process on Monday.  It is my understanding that an execution process gets started a day or so before the actual scheduled execution (including the ordering of a last meal and all), so I will be surprised if all state and federal courts wait until Monday to rule on a stay.  Though perhaps the state courts are hoping the federal courts will intervene first, and vice versa.  In short, as I like to say, stay tuned.

Related posts on botched Broom execution attempt:

• Ohio struggling, legally and practically, with effort to execute offender
• More on Ohio's execution troubles and what could happen next
• Details on the botched Ohio execution attempt, issue spotting, and seeking predictions
• UK advocate saying botched Ohio execution attempt should be US turning point on death penalty
• Notable reactions in national and local papers in response to Ohio's "unexecuted"
• Will (and when and how will) SCOTUS have to weigh in on Ohio's desire to try execution again?

UPDATE:  This new New York Times piece provides the latest news, including the details of a stay:

An Ohio prisoner whose execution was halted on Tuesday, and then immediately rescheduled for next week, because technicians were unable to inject him with lethal drugs won a stay of execution on Friday.

The stay, issued by Judge Gregory L. Frost of the Federal District Court in Columbus, expires at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 28. A hearing on a further stay has been scheduled for that day.