Romell Broom's Execution Fails Over Inmate's Unsuitable Veins

On September 21, 1984, Tryna Middleton, 14 and two friends, Tammy Sims and Bonita Callier were at a high school football game. After the football game, the three girls began walking home, and they noticed a car that they thought looked suspicious. They walked away from the car and down a different street. A car without its lights on then came towards the girls and stopped in front of them. The driver exited the car and ran past the girls.

Once the girls passed by the parked car, they heard footsteps behind them and then Broom tried to grab all of them. In the course of the struggle with the girls, Broom pulled out a knife. Middleton was not able to get away from Broom, but the other two girls escaped.

They ran to a nearby house where the homeowner allowed them to call their mothers and the police. The girls described the car and the assailant to the police. Approximately two hours later, Tryna's body was found in a parking lot; she had been stabbed in the chest and abdomen and raped.

Her friends were shown a series of photographs, but were unable to identify a suspect at this point. There were two other incidents in the same area involving young girls.

On September 18, 1984, a girl was walking home when a car passed her and then stopped. When she walked past the car, the driver got out and grabbed her. He also threatened her with a knife. Residents who lived nearby heard the noise, and the girl was able to escape into their home.

The other incident occurred on December 6, 1984, involving another girl. A car was following her as she was walking home, and as she turned a street corner, a man passed her and then grabbed her from behind. Broom began hitting the girl, and he threw her into his car. Her younger sister observed what happened and summoned the girls' mother, who ran outside and grabbed the car door. As her mother held on to the car, the girl was able to escape through the passenger door. Two witnesses were able to get the license plate number of the car, which the police then traced to William Broom, Broom's father.

When the police arrived, Broom admitted that he had been driving the car. The police then took Broom to the hospital, where both the girl and her mother identified Broom. The other two witnesses to the incident also identified Broom in a line-up. The similarities between these three incidents led the police to bring in the witnesses from the other two cases to view a line-up. The victims and witnesses each independently identified Broom from the line-up. Tryna's friends also identified him in a photo array. The police discovered that Broom had been driving his girlfriend's car before it was wrecked on November 6, 1984, and one of the girls identified Broom's girlfriend's car as the one from the night of the attack on Tryna. The other girl stated that it was the same kind and color as the car used during the incident.

Tests revealed that the sperm discovered in Tryna's body belonged to a person with type B blood, which is the blood type of approximately twelve percent of the population; Broom's blood is type B.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury issued an indictment charging Broom with the following:

(1) aggravated murder of Tryna Middleton with specifications for murder committed during the course of a kidnapping and rape

(2) rape of Tryna Middleton

(3) kidnapping of Tryna Middleton

(4, 5, 6, 7) kidnapping of the surviving victims

(8) felonious assault of one of the surviving victims.

Counts Six through Eight were severed, and Broom was tried on the first five counts in proceedings that began on September 16, 1985.

The jury found Broom guilty on each of the charges, and at the end of the penalty phase, recommended a sentence of death. The state trial judge sentenced Broom to death in October 1985, for aggravated murder. In addition, Broom was sentenced to 54-80 years of incarceration for the remaining counts.

"It's been twenty-five years and the pain has gotten a little bit better, but there is not a single day that I don't get up and think about her during some point in the day," said Bessye Middleton, Tryna's mother.