Too Fat to be Executed. Awww....

[imdaly]

Ohio inmate says he's too fat for execution
August 5, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio - 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.

Prison system spokeswoman Andrea Carson and Jim Gravelle, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's Office, both said Monday they hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment.

Last year, Carson cited the obesity of condemned inmate Christopher Newton as one of the reasons prison officials had difficulty accessing his veins before his execution. Newton was 6 feet tall and weighed 265 pounds.

Two years ago, convicted killer Jeffrey Lundgren was put to death after a federal appeals court rejected his claim that he was at greater risk of experiencing pain and suffering because he was overweight and diabetic.

Source

Poor baby. I mean, it's only fair he's killed as humanely, silently, and painlessly as possible, just like his two rape/murder victims, right?

 

[Silk Spectre]

Only in America. I suppose next he will blame the food industry or the prison system for his weight. Good grief!

 

[Rando Aces]

it should say too fat to be executed. grammar people!

 

[imdaly]

it should say too fat to be executed. grammar people!

ACK!!! And I'm known by my friends as the "Grammar Nazi"! I'm ashamed of myself...

 

[MattBearPig]

Fatties ain't bulletproof. Shoot the bastard n the face.

 

[jaguarr]

Tall building and a push. Make him wish he hadn't eaten so much on the way down.

jag

 

[Dew k. Mosi]

Fatties ain't bulletproof. Shoot the bastard n the face.

Actually we are. The bullets bounce off our rotundity. True fact. Look it up.

 

[imdaly]

I mean, the dude knew at least 5 years ago that his weight might make his death more painful. You'd think he'd start working to lose some of that weight back then so that he'd be fine come his execution day. Perhaps when he's with his prison buddies he would've elected to be on top a few times instead of just take it laying down.

But of course not! He wanted this to be a problem so that he could try to get out of it.

 

[imdaly]

Dew? Could you fix my spelling on the thread title, please? It'd driving me insane now that it's been pointed out!

 

[Drizzle]

How in the hell did he get so fat in prison anyway? Was he trading buttsex for extra food rations?

 

[Spidey-Bat]

If they want to kill him, hang him. His body weight should be more than enough to snap his neck. They'd probably have to use steel cables and a crane to hang him though.

 

[Dark Victory]

Make his death as painful as his two victims. Send in Big Bob to take care of him

 

[Manic]

I call bull****. There are individuals as fat as he is who can have blood drawn by registered nurses. I think they can find a vein somewhere where they can give the lethal injection. Or use one of the old forms of execution. Hang 'em. Put him in the chair. Toss him in the gas chamber. Call the firing squad. Prep the guillotine. Put up a stake and start the bonfire. Bind his limbs, then toss him in the lake to see if he floats.

...wait, those last two are for witches.

 

[imdaly]

I've got it!


Fillet the extra fat off of him and THEN he'll be thin enough to be injected.

 

[Finlandman]

IMO no matter what he has done, he should atleast be given painless execution.

 

[imdaly]

IMO no matter what he has done, he should atleast be given painless execution.

I respectfully disagree.

 

[Manic]

I'm sure the prison has at least one or two heron junkies who can help them find an arm vein.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

If I ever get the death sentance, I'm packing on pounds.

 

[JayCaz]

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.

I honestly did not know that you were put to sleep before being given the lethal injection.

I always thought the whole point was that you died in excruciating pain.

Otherwise, what's the point of the lethal injection? They might as well put you to sleep & shoot you in the head.

 

[Ring Deacon]

Speaking as a fat man, I sometimes have problems giving blood and having an IV put in, but the nurses and doctors know what the are doing and always find a way to make it work.

As for him using his weight as a reason to not be put to death by injection, that is BS. He could always drink the the stuff. And what about a good old fashion hanging? I have an even better idea. Let the families of the people he killed take care of him. I am sure they will make it as painless for him.

What pisses me off even more about this is he was charged in 1986. Our tax dollars have kept him alive for 22 years? WTF! I am all for appeals and stuff like that, but you'd think after one or two of those the courts would just say "look you are guilty and that is all there is too it." Then take him out and get the execution done and over with. This keeping people on death row for 20 years is just plain stupid.

 

[Erzengel]

If they want to kill him, hang him. His body weight should be more than enough to snap his neck. They'd probably have to use steel cables and a crane to hang him though.

His body weight would probably decapitate him but hey.....win/win.

 

[Eggyman]

His body weight would probably decapitate him but hey.....win/win.

There's a lot of decapitations happening lately, so at least he'll be going out following a trend.

 

[Payle Gray]

they should put him on a diet and exercise plan for 6 weeks. then kill him.

 

[Schlosser85]

His victims experienced the degrading horror of being raped before he murdered them, give me one reason why anyone should bend over backwards to make sure he doesn't feel one teensy second of pain as he dies? We're giving him more rights than his victims, and this kind of "awww poor rapist-murderer" bs makes me sick.

It reminds me of those people holding their candlelit vigil when Timothy McVeigh was executed, hugging and praying and making a big weepy show out of their 15 minutes on camera.

 

[Silk Spectre]

Maybe he's The Blob.