Does This Death Chamber Make Me Look Fat?

MayorBob.

Posted to Legal on Wed Aug 06, 2008 at 09:50:46 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

The debate over whether lethal injection is a humane way of executing criminals is just about over. In most states, including Ohio, the path is clear to begin reducing the inventory of death row inmates. But, just like a bad cold the cruel and inhuman argument rears its ugly head again in Ohio as one profoundly overweight inmate says "I'm too fat to be put to death."

Richard Cooey has a date with eternity on October 14th. Just as he has since he was convicted in the brutal rape and murder of Wendy Offredo and Dawn Mcreery (scroll down to July 24 for the details), Cooey is hoping for a postponement. Unlike the previous delay, where Cooey fired his lawyers and got new ones and used inadequate representation as an to postpone execution day, this time he's complaining that, because he's morbidly obese, the drugs used to put him to sleep wouldn't work properly. That would render him aware of what's going on and suffering excruciating pain up until the end.

The 41-year-old Cooey weighs in at 275 pounds, with prison authorities claiming he's put on substantial weight in the past two months. When Cooey was scheduled for execution back in 2003, a nurse on duty at the death chamber said it was difficult to find his veins to begin an IV hookup. According to Dr. Mark Heath, an expert witness on Cooey's defense team, his obesity combined with medication he takes for seizures would be enough to undo the intended effect of the anesthesia administered during the death protocol resulting in a "higher risk of an inhumane execution." The federal lawsuit asking for removal of Cooey's death sentence says executing him would "violate his constitutional rights" against cruel and unusual punishment.

Two recent executions in Ohio involved overweight inmates. Former cult leader and mass murderer Jeff Lundgren was put to death in 2006. He claimed that his obesity and diabetes could have turned his lethal injection into a cruel and unusual experience. It took the state of Ohio over two hours to execute Christopher Newton last year when medical staff had problems finding veins in the 265 pound inmate. Possible drug interactions were not an issue in either case.