LUCASVILLE, Ohio -- Ohio has called off the execution of a sick inmate after several unsuccessful attempts to insert an IV.
Members of the Ohio execution team tried to find veins in the arms and right leg of death row prisoner Alva Campbell for about 25 minutes before stopping.
Prisons director Gary Mohr said the team did its best but the condition of Campbell's veins had changed since checks in Tuesday.
Republican Gov. John Kasich set a new June 5, 2019, execution date for death row prisoner Alva Campbell as part of a formal reprieve issued Wednesday afternoon.
This is only the third time in U.S. history that an execution has been called off after the process has begun.
The execution was abruptly halted Wednesday morning just after it appeared an IV was inserted in Campbell's right leg.
Campbell, due to be executed for a 1997 carjack killing, shook hands with two members of the execution team and wiped tears away.
Spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said that Campbell spent Wednesday morning praying with the prisons' agency religious services administrator and watching TV. She says he slept most of the night, lying on his right side.
The 69-year-old Campbell lost his last appeal Tuesday when the US Supreme Court refused to stop the execution.
A prisons doctor said Campbell has chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder as the result of a decadeslong two-pack-a-day smoking habit. Officials said executioners would provide Campbell with a wedge-shaped pillow during the execution because of breathing problems he might suffer lying on his back.