Ohio Inmate Not Too Fat For Death Penalty

State Supreme Court Rules That 267-Pound Man Can Die By Lethal Injection Despite His Plea That He's Too Heavy

(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.

He would be the first person to be put to death in the state since the end of a de facto moratorium on lethal injection.

Cooey's attorneys had argued that prison food and limited opportunities to exercise contributed to a weight problem that would make it difficult for the execution team to find a viable vein for lethal injection.

Cooey is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 267 pounds.

An appeal is still pending.

[smurfcrusher]

If anything, it will take less effort to push him over the edge!

[swingset4u]

Despite His Plea That He''s Too Heavy

HAHAHAHA!!! Hey Cooey, There is such a thing called forklifts to get your fat A$$ up on that gurney. Just ask for a little more than the usual of the drugs they will be putting you to death with... Nite-nite murderer!

[bhappy2-2]

But, fat people die every day. Even those who didn''t take the life of someone else. KILL HIM ALREADY! He has had 22 years more than he should have had.

[swingset4u]

I agree... Let them have the option of hanging until dead, lethal injection, electric chair, firing squad, gas chamber or even drowning.

[swingset4u]

Grab him around the neck and squeeeeeeeeeze! I bet a vein shows itself then.

[swingset4u]

Oooops! I forgot to add starvation to my list....

[honestabe8]

making a mockery of our justice system is not solely at the feet of bleeding heart liberals or death penalty opponents. jack booted psuedo conservatives do the same.

[honestabe8]

That being said, i got no problem with Richard Cooey''s execution, however carried out.

[beader59]

His weight vs height does equal too obese for execution. What a waste of taxpayer dollars all the way around.

[guadalcanal3]

A simple bullet through the head would do quite nicely...quicker than looking for a vein.

[stupidrules3]

Put him on a treadmill and poke him with a cattleprod till he has a heart attack.

[maine11111]

If you cant kill him by lethal injection then fry the fat *** he still has to pay!!!!

[maine11111]

Put him on a treadmill and poke him with a cattleprod till he has a heart attack.

[maine11111]

Put him on a treadmill and poke him with a cattleprod till he has a heart attack.


FUNNY!!!!!

[maine11111]

If you cant kill him by lethal injection then fry the fat *** he still has to pay!!!! or cook him and feed him to the poor!!!!

[gopack443]

I wonder if fat people smell different when they electrocute them? No need to find vains anyway :-)

[hambonehd]

well, just hang him. oh, the rope might break and cause him undue pain.. What *** this society has come to put up with.

[volleymom3]

It took 22 years to put a man to death. It probably took him seconds to take the lives of two college students. You are never too fat to die, jsut too evil to live.

[rushman71]

gopack443: Probably the smell of burning lard. Or he could smell like bacon, since he''s a pig!!! LOL

[messiahx4eve]

I knew this guy when he was a kid in our neighborhood in Akron, and we kind of figured he was different when at the age of 12 he took our outdoor cat and skinned him & threw him in our trash container because we told on him for making some kind of kool-aide that had something other than kool-aide in it and got a bunch of neighborhood kids sick, he got into big trouble for that so when he got out of kiddy prison, he killed our cat to show his displeasure and told us about it & that he did it, I would rather just skin him alive, cover him with a salt solution for a few days and let him sit outside on a really hot or cold day and die that way.

[libh8er]

Put him on a treadmill and poke him with a cattleprod till he has a heart attack.
Posted by maine11111 at 10:21 AM : Oct 10, 2008

That sounds like a great plan - FOR THE LAWYERS! Afterwards, they can do the same to Cooey.

[barbaram99]

I am a Mainer myself now in Seattle, The guy''s fat so what. His peers gave him death than carry it out. They use to hang the likes of him. Now they got it better. He got death and his wt has nothing to with it. yer gave no thot to the ones yer killt years ago why are ye crying for mercy. They got no mercy at yer paws.

[grammawhamma]

There is a medical proceedure called a "cut down". It involves making an incision in the skin and digging around to find a vein. Ohhhh...that might hurt!

[kevzgrl]

Any way you look at this scum bag, he has gotten 22 more years on this earth than his victims - they would be celebrating their children''s weddings and the birth of grandchildren by now. Our society is way out of whach when we allow criminals like this more rights than the victims they perpetrated their crimes against.
The Bible says "judge not lest ye be judged" - so it is not for us individually to throw the stones at Cooey, but a jury of his peers found him guilty all those years ago, and their sentence should have been carried out WAY before this. Justice will finally be served. The appeals process should have NEVER taken this long, and needs to be streamlined, so this kind of travesty won''t keep happening.