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THE US STATE of Ohio will provide a condemned man with a special pillow to help him breathe during his execution today.
Officials will place the wedge-shaped pillow on the bed where Alva Campbell (69) is to be strapped down and put to death, Ohio penitentiary service spokeswoman Jo Ellen Smith said.
Campbell was sentenced to death for gunning down a teenager he held hostage two decades ago.
Efforts by Campbell’s lawyers to halt his execution for health reasons have so far failed.
Campbell has “severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder” and needs four daily breathing treatments, his lawyers say, adding that he relies on a colostomy bag, cannot move without a walker and may have lung cancer.
But Ohio authorities don’t see these conditions as obstacles to his execution by lethal injection.
“Mr Campbell’s medical condition and history are being assessed and considered in order to identify any necessary accommodations or contingencies for his execution,” Smith told AFP.
Activists opposed to capital punishment denounced what they call a “barbaric” act and urged Governor John Kasich, a Republican, to spare Campbell’s life.
“Be a true moral leader for Ohio,” urged Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun whose work fighting the death penalty was immortalised in the Oscar-winning film Dead Man Walking.
“Don’t kill a man suffering from terminal cancer. Alva Campbell can’t breathe or walk without assistance. Stop the execution now,” she tweeted.
Raised by alcoholic and violent parents, Campbell served 20 years in prison for an earlier murder.
After being released on parole, he was arrested again in 1997 for a robbery and placed back behind bars, where he faked paralysis, which allowed him to appear in court in a wheelchair.
He then grabbed a sheriff’s officer’s gun and fled by holding up a car driven by Charles Dials (18). Campbell took Dials hostage and shot him dead.
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Wanted to halt execution on health grounds……..if carlsberg did reasons.
…..
@Brian Murphy: yea, being put to death is very, very, bad for your health!
On the bright side he won’t have any health issues anymore after the execution
Should have been executed 20 years ago if you ask me.
Looks like this guy is getting the easy way out. Can imagine the quality of life with all his illnesses and been confined to prison as something to look forward to. The people calling for the system to show humanity should be pushing for the execution and the victims family should be pushing to stop the execution.
@Nick Allen: You’re not wrong.
@Nick Allen: I have to agree with you on that one
I would prefer him to keep suffering rather than being euthanised and getting the easy way out were I his victims family. The more suffering, the better!
This piece of cr@p is getting the easy way out in my opinion… but my opinion counts for nout, only the governors and the judges.
@Lilly Passet-De Nais: would he not be given treatment in prison for all his illnesses? Giving I’m a friggin pillow tho, is taking the biscuit
Ireland 2 years in jail and rest suspended haha
@kevinhunt101:
Totally untrue.
@Gagsy 99: I agree. More like 1 year in prison.
@Gagsy 99: totally not far from the truth
Meanwhile the kid he killed didn’t even have the chance contract such medical conditions
@Shane Murphy: indeed – killing people is wrong.
“Don’t execute a man who has terminal cancer” why? So he can cost the prison even more money trying to treat his incurable disease that is slowly killing him just so he can live for a little longer in prison?
I’m against execution in most cases but this is just stupid to argue against. He is already dying.
@Shannon Mcg: Cost has nothing to do with it. The average cost of a capital murder case tried before a jury is more than 4.25 times greater than the average cost of a murder case tried to a jury in which the prosecution sought life without parole.
Most of these DA’s and judges are elected so if they are not seen to be tough on crime they won’t get elected.
160 people have been released from Death Row in the US since 1976 mostly from DNA testing yet they still say that no innocent person has been executed. Try telling that to Cameron Todd Willingham or Ruben Cantu.
Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, China, Yemen and the good old USA.
@Shannon Mcg: aren’t we all…
@Fay Moynihan: morally in opposed to a murderer receiving better treatment, ie free healthcare, than a law abiding citizen.
“Halt his execution for health reasons” lol
Nice to see there is still some empathy, for people for people who don’t give a crap about others, don’t mind the fact he gunned down a teenager, PC gone nuts
@Gavin R:
That is nice to see.
It’s not about ignoring the crime he committed or his victims – its about preserving our own humanity.
While few will mourn his passing, deliberately ending someone’s life is not in my view a practice which protects or enriches society.
They should provide an antidote to prevent the lethal injection from killing him too.
Daft headline, I’m glad the people executing him aren’t monsters, but I never thought they were. He’s already had three chances to stay out of jail, and he used them to commit robbery and kill two people, come on. The least he could do is to petition for a different method so that some of his organs could be donated to maybe save a life for a change.
@Fiona Fitzgerald:
Doesn’t sound like his organs are in the best of condition
@Nick Allen: True, well at least his blood might help people.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: would you want your veins pumping the blood of a murderer around your body???
It won’t help him for long.
Why does he want breathing apparatus while he is being executed, I thought that execution was meant to Kill him.
“Raised by alcoholic and violent parents”….he didn’t get of to a good start in life.
@Pat Fitzpatrick: so ?
Shove the special pillow down his wind pipe.
@Paul Freeman:
I’d say not executing him would be a bigger punishment for him now.
We’re going to kill you but we need to make sure you can breathe. Cause you know we’d hate for you to die…
@Séa Graham: Cause of death is listed as homicide on the death certificate.
What would the “do gooders” say it was their son that was captured and shot by this ghastly excuse for a human?
I know what I’d do with the pillow!
@Leo McCarthy:
By ‘do gooders’ you mean those against the death penalty?
As a ‘bad boy’ what would you say and more interestingly what would you do with the pillow? Sleep on it? Have a pillow fight? Bite it? Stick it up your jumper as part of a costume?
jail and the death penalty is easy to for these they should be infected with a none transmitted illness and or dump in the north pole or some desert. Let them really pay for what they did.
What does he want to breathe for ??? Sure that defeats the whole purpose.
Just take the pillow away, let him die in his cell
Cognitive dissonance I’ll make you comfortable so you can breath easily whilst I kill you Wtf it’s 2017 and a so called civilised country is still executing prisoners , regardless of what he did the state sets the example, if his health is that bad he won’t live much longer.
Just read there that this guys execution was called off because they couldn’t find a vein.
Execution halted after 80 minutes … they couldn’t find a vein. Very unusual.
Yes, please, make him as comfortable as you can while we execute him. Smh.
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