The lawyer for Alabama death row inmate Doyle Lee Hamm visited his client in prison Sunday with a medical expert to document Hamm’s injuries following last Thursday’s failed lethal injection attempt.
Attorney Bernard Harcourt says Hamm’s injuries following Thursday’s botched execution were worse than expected. The 61-year-old Hamm has lymphatic cancer, Hepatitis C, and a history of drug use. Harcourt argues those issues have severely compromised Hamm’s veins. Prison officials eventually called off Hamm’s execution after they had attempted lethal injection multiple times through his lower body. Harcourt says his client is still in pain.
“We got in there we found about a dozen puncture marks. But lots of bruising on the groin, lots of pain and swelling,” he said. Harcourt visited with medical expert Dr. Mark Heath. Heath’s medical report should be filed in the next few days.
Catching up before going into Holman Prison Sunday morning with Dr. Mark Heath to conduct medical exam of the butchery. Came across these pictures of family friends and counsel after botched execution was done at 11:30PM Thursday night. Doyle's brother Danny is there. pic.twitter.com/S9hQDLV5iH
— Bernard E. Harcourt (@BernardHarcourt) February 25, 2018
The state has not rescheduled Hamm’s execution. Hamm spent 30 years on death row for the 1987 killing of a motel clerk.
Bob Horton, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections on Monday declined to comment on the attempted execution or “on the protocols followed during last Thursday’s scheduled execution pending a review by a federal judge.”
U.S. District Court Judge Karon Bowdre has not yet set another hearing in the case.