Story highlights A death row inmate whose execution was "botched and bloody" is asking not to be put to death

His attorneys cite cruel and unusual punishment and double jeopardy in court filings

(CNN) An Alabama death row inmate whose execution went wrong is asking that his death sentence be vacated. The attempted execution was "botched and bloody," as the inmate's lawyer put it, and left the inmate under "physical and mental duress."

Doyle Lee Hamm was convicted in 1987 of committing murder during a robbery and sentenced to death. On February 22, the 61-year-old was being prepped for intravenous lethal execution at the Holman Correctional Facility when staff and medical personnel tried and failed for 2½ hours to find veins in his groin, feet and legs.

A federal judge ordered a medical exam by an outside physician; it was completed Sunday by Dr. Mark Heath, an anesthesiologist who practices at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.

with the Alabama In two civil actions filed Wednesdaywith the Alabama US District Court and the state circuit court , Hamm maintains that the execution was called off after "hours of physical and psychological torture, forcing needles into his lower extremities" and the right femoral vein near his groin, "causing severe bleeding and pain."

The doctor found 11 puncture wounds on Hamm's body.

Hamm's defense team is asking for relief from his "now unconstitutional sentence of death." They claim that the painful procedure, during which their client wished he could die, was cruel and unusual punishment and a "constitutionally prohibited cruel, unnecessarily painful, slow, and lingering process to death." They also claim that attempting a second execution would be double jeopardy, protected by the Fifth Amendment, which states that no person shall "be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb."

Read More