Ohio inmate says he's too fat for execution

[WryBread]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEATH_PENALTY_COOEY?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-08-05-01-12-53

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A death row inmate scheduled for execution says he's too fat to be put to death, claiming executioners would have trouble finding his veins and that his weight could diminish the effectiveness of one of the lethal injection drugs.

Lawyers for Richard Cooey argue in a federal lawsuit that Cooey - 5-feet-7 and 267 pounds - had poor veins when he faced execution five years ago and the problem has been worsened by weight gain.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, also says prison officials have had difficulty drawing blood from Cooey for medical procedures.

Cooey, 41, is sentenced to die for raping and murdering two young women in 1986. His execution is scheduled for Oct. 14.

His attorneys say a drug he is taking for migraine headaches could affect the execution process. The drug Topamax, a type of seizure medication, may have created a resistance to thiopental, the drug used to put inmates to sleep before two other lethal drugs are administered, Dr. Mark Heath, a physician hired by the Ohio Public Defender's Office, said in documents filed with the court.

Heath says Cooey's weight, combined with the potential drug resistance, increases the risk he would not be properly anesthetized.

"All of the experts agree if the first drug doesn't work, the execution is going to be excruciating," Cooey's public defender, Kelly Culshaw Schneider, said Monday ....

(Personally, I could not care less how this man suffers, but I thought it was a funny headline and certainly an innovative variation on the old "cruel and unusual" objection. Perhaps prisons must now force death row inmates into top physical condition before executing them.)

[Gilbrit]

Tie a tourniquet to the fat fucks arm until it falls off or main line the shit into him.

[brokenandtwisted]

Put him on a fast. He'll lose 40-70 pounds on 45 day fast, I think that's the general concensus. Then there'll be veins to puncture, jackass.

[Aelwynn]

LOL. Brokenandtwisted stole my response. Tell him to stop eating and he'll lose the damn weight. Give him some saltine crackers, I find those especially nasty. What happened to the old days where all jail inmates got bread and water?!

Wasn't there a case like this in Canada where the guy was let out of jail early and put on house arrest because he was too fat to stay in the cell?

[brokenandtwisted]

LOL. Brokenandtwisted stole my response. Tell him to stop eating and he'll lose the damn weight. Give him some saltine crackers, I find those especially nasty. What happened to the old days where all jail inmates got bread and water?!

Wasn't there a case like this in Canada where the guy was let out of jail early and put on house arrest because he was too fat to stay in the cell?

:rofl: Not sure on that case, but it's probable. We're a little backward up here...

On execution: Last meal should consist of three tablespoons of salt and glass of sour milk. Seriously, giving someone a last meal is a form of letting them die with some dignity. Fuck that. :doh:

[w8ng4msrgt]

On execution: Last meal should consist of three tablespoons of salt and glass of sour milk. Seriously, giving someone a last meal is a form of letting them die with some dignity. Fuck that. :doh:

I am all for giving someone a last meal as long as it is within a reasonable time. Say maybe 30-60 days instead of the 20+ years it now takes.

[mo.armymom]

Well, boo fuckin hoo. I am sick to death of these wimpy ass mother fuckers crying about how they might feel a little pain before they die. I bet he didn't give a rats ass about his victims pain and suffering. Just shoot the bastard and be done with it.

[nurseronda]

Well, boo fuckin hoo. I am sick to death of these wimpy ass mother fuckers crying about how they might feel a little pain before they die. I bet he didn't give a rats ass about his victims pain and suffering. Just shoot the bastard and be done with it. I agee with you on this one, plus it would be an instant cure for his migraine headaches. :whistle:

[Gilbrit]

I agee with you on this one, plus it would be an instant cure for his migraine headaches. :whistle:

Yeah, instant relief from all that ails you! I like the sound of that.....

[Mandella]

:heh:BBQ his fat ass and feed him to starving people in the 3rd world.

[Harley_Tech]

Tie a tourniquet to the fat fucks arm until it falls off or main line the shit into him.

Tie it around his fucking neck and be done with it.

R

[Gilbrit]

Tie it around his fucking neck and be done with it.


Yeah...Hmmmm
I DO so like the sound of that.
Would solve that weight issue in a jiffy.

[Unamused Cat]

Update:


A judge has dismissed the obesity claim made by Richard Cooey, who is scheduled to die Oct. 14 in what would be the first execution in Ohio in more than a year.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost rejected Cooey's contention that he can't be executed humanely because he has poor veins, a problem exacerbated by his obesity.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081003/NEWS0107/810030404/1167/NEWS

Die fat bastard!

[polis]

Update:



http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081003/NEWS0107/810030404/1167/NEWS

Die fat bastard!

unamused rarely posts on here... from what i've seen. yet still able to give wonderful one liners that no one can disagree with!

*bows*

[Envy]

Does it hve to be by lethal injection? In the U.S we have 7 legal ways to kill inmates for the death penalty...
Electric chair is still legal, as is the firing squad, hanging, and Nitrogen Asphyxiation. The other three are forms of injections so i didn't list them...

[polis]

Does it hve to be by lethal injection? In the U.S we have 7 legal ways to kill inmates for the death penalty...
Electric chair is still legal, as is the firing squad, hanging, and Nitrogen Asphyxiation. The other three are forms of injections so i didn't list them...

It depends on the state. Not all states provide all forms.

[Just my luck sucks]

This strategy worked for Mitchell Rupe in Washington State. He shot 2 young women bank tellers in the face, killed them both, and was sentenced to death back in 1981.

In prison he porked up to about 400 pounds during the several years of all his appeals, etc. When the time came to hang him, he claimed he was too fat and his head would pop off. The judge vacated his death sentence, and he was retried in 2000, but the jury wasn't unanimous on the death penalty (11-1 for death), and his sentence was changed to life.

Man who killed two in Olympia but was declared 'too fat to hang' dies in prison

Mitchell Rupe, a former death row inmate once found too fat to hang, died at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla today following a long illness... He was 51...

Rupe shot two Olympia bank tellers to death at point-blank range during a 1981 robbery. Juries twice sentenced him to death... In 1994, a federal judge upheld his conviction but agreed with Rupe's contention that at 400 pounds, he was too fat to hang because of the risk of decapitation.

At the time, Washington's only manner of execution was hanging. The main method now is lethal injection, although a condemned inmate can still opt for hanging...

Worthless bastard finally died of liver disease in prison earlier this year.

[crickett]

Fucking fry the fat bastard! Nail ice picks into his head! Best of all, STARVE his fat ass to death! Just KILL him!

[Aelwynn]

Ah! I found the Canadian one too.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080522/obese_prisoner_080522/20080522?hub=Canada


A former chef who goes by the nickname "Big Mike'' has had his sentence for drug trafficking reduced because the provincial jail where he's incarcerated can't deal with his 430-pound weight.

Michel Lapointe has already served 20 months behind bars awaiting sentencing in what his lawyer described in court as hellish conditions.

"For the first eight months he didn't have a bed adjusted to his size,'' defence lawyer Clemente Monterosso said in an interview Thursday.

"He never got a chair adjusted to his size. The chair and the tables were too tight and he could not sit down. In jail, the chairs are bolted to the ground and you cannot adjust them.''

Monterosso said jail officials refused to provide a chair with a back to accommodate Lapointe's tattooed bulk -- jail chairs are more like stools -- saying they feared it could be broken and used as a weapon.

There's more information there. Apparently he gained like 40 lbs from being in jail cause of the food he was being fed. I find it ridiculous that they reduced his charge just because he's fat! So what if the chairs and things like that didn't fit him. These are NOT hellish conditions that MOST prisoners face. A chair that doesn't fit his fat ass? So what, make due. A bed that doesn't fit his massive girth? So what, sleep on the floor if need be.

I don't think that just because someone is fat, that they shouldn't do the time. If they complain, they shouldn't of done whatever it was in the first place. Just because someone suffers in jail doesn't mean it's inhumane at all. They are supposed to suffer!

[Jaded]

Denied!!!

(AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected arguments that a death row inmate is too fat to die by lethal injection.

Justices on Thursday gave the go-ahead to execute Richard Cooey.

The 41-year-old is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing two University of Akron students in 1986.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/09/toofat.execution.appeal.ap/index.html

[crickett]

GOOD NEWS UPDATE!!!!!!!!!! TA-DAH
The court says that we CAN accomodate the fat fuck and HE'S GOING D-O-W-N!!!:cheers:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/09/toofat.execution.appeal.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Brave enough to kill 2 college students, too chickenshit to face the consequences

[crickett]

Richard Cooey died at 10:28 am this morning at Lucasville Penitentary in Ohio. There were no problems finding his veins and he was executed by lethal injection.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081014/ap_on_re_us/death_penalty_ohio

[Unamused Cat]

:cheers: Adios fat fuck!

[Unamused Cat]

Dead Man Eating: Cooey was given his final meal around 4 p.m. Monday. It consisted of a T-bone steak with A-1 sauce, french fries, onion rings, hash browns, four eggs over easy, toast with butter, a pint of Rocky Road ice cream, and "real" bear claws from the bakery.

[brokenandtwisted]

Dead Man Eating: Cooey was given his final meal around 4 p.m. Monday. It consisted of a T-bone steak with A-1 sauce, french fries, onion rings, hash browns, four eggs over easy, toast with butter, a pint of Rocky Road ice cream, and "real" bear claws from the bakery.

I am so tempted to start a "what would your last meal be" thread....

[Athena]

I am so tempted to start a "what would your last meal be" thread....

You should. Three Things can use some lighthearted topics now and again...especially with me posting about suicide and shit.

Would a fifth of vodka and a 2-liter of tonic water count? Or does it have to be solid?

[nurseronda]

I bet he no longer has those migraine headaches now.

[crickett]

I bet he no longer has those migraine headaches now.

I love you:hello:
You know, I HAVE two daughters in college. So, this fat fuck was getting NO sympathy from me after he killed two college students.

[maryhaze]

i don't have any kids in college & he still got no sympathy from me. filthy prick. hope he suffered. NEXT!!!!!!!

[TheLittleFriend]

I am so tempted to start a "what would your last meal be" thread....

Do it!