A death row inmate had his execution called off Wednesday after prison officials were unable to find a vein in which to inject the drugs. Alva Campbell, 69, was convicted of murdering 18-year-old Charles Dials during a carjacking in 1997 and has spent the last 17 years on death row. Campbell reportedly drove around with Dials inside the car for several hours before he shot him twice in the head as he was crouching in the footwell of the vehicle.

Campbell’s attorneys previously argued his life should be spared due to his life experiences. Lawyers said Campbell was sexually abused, beaten and tortured in childhood and spend time in abusive foster situations, according to the Mercury News. Ohio Gov. John Kasich denied Campbell's request for clemency last week, while the United States Supreme Court declined Tuesday to stop the execution.

Campbell’s execution was stopped Wednesday after an IV was inserted into his leg. The execution team reportedly tried to find veins in his arms and leg for 25 minutes before calling the execution off. Campbell suffers from several medical conditions and is allergic to the sedative used in Ohio prisons to carry out lethal injections, his attorneys said.

“Campbell suffers from lung cancer, COPD, respiratory failure, prostate cancer, hip replacement and severe pneumonia,” Campbell’s lawyers wrote to the Supreme Court in a petition, according to UPI. “Campbell must take oxygen treatments four times a day in order to function and he relies on a walker for very limited mobility.”

David Stebbins, an attorney for Campbell, said the inmate was happy to be alive after Wednesday’s events. Campbell’s situation was only the third time in United States history that an execution was stopped after it was already underway, ABC News reported. Campbell, however, was set to return to death row where a future execution date would be set.

RELATED STORIES