Obese Death Row Inmate Executed

Double Murderer Had Argued He Was Too Fat To Receive Lethal Injection

(CBS/AP)  Ohio has executed a 5-foot-7, 267-pound double murderer who argued his obesity made death by lethal injection inhumane.

Richard Cooey died at 10:28 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

There were no immediate reports of problems finding suitable veins to deliver the deadly chemicals.

Cooey was condemned to die for killing two college students in 1986.

Cooey had tried to avoid execution by arguing that his obesity would prevent humane lethal injection because viable veins in his arms are hard to find.

A prisons spokeswoman said earlier that Cooey received a pre-execution exam and was cleared.

He spent most of the night sitting on his bed and pacing quietly in his cell, Carson said. He fell asleep at 4:06 a.m., woke at 5:20 a.m. and did not ask for breakfast.

He later met with an attorney and a spiritual adviser.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Cooey's second appeal to stop the execution. It turned down without comment his complaint that the state's protocol for lethal injection could cause an agonizing and painful death. He wanted the state to use a single drug rather than a three-drug combination, and asked for a stay of execution pending a hearing on that motion.

The court on Monday denied a separate appeal based on Cooey's claim that his obesity was a bar to humane lethal injection. The argument also had been rejected by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati and the Ohio Supreme Court, with both courts ruling that he missed a deadline for filing appeals.

Cooey is 75 pounds heavier than when he went to death row - the result of prison food and 23-hour-a-day confinement, his lawyers said.

They also argued that a migraine medicine prescribed by a prison physician could reduce the effect of the anesthetic used as part of the three-drug lethal injection.

They claimed that Ohio has a history of botched executions.

The last Ohio inmate to be executed was Christopher Newton - who was similar in size to Cooey - in May 2007. The execution team had trouble putting IVs in his arm, delaying his execution nearly two hours. There were similar problems in the execution of another inmate in 2006.

Cooey made an earlier trip to the death house. But a U.S. District Court judge intervened hours before his scheduled execution in July 2003 when the Ohio Public Defender's office said it needed more time to assess the case after an appeals court dismissed his previous attorneys for inadequate representation.

Cooey and a co-defendant were convicted in the sexual assaults and slayings of University of Akron students Dawn McCreery, 20, and Wendy Offredo, 21, in September 1986. His co-defendant was 17 and was sentenced to life in prison because of his age.

The Ohio Board of Parole and Gov. Ted Strickland have refused Cooey's plea for clemency.

Cooey dined Monday evening on the special meal he ordered, including T-bone steak with A-1 sauce, onion rings, french fries, four eggs over easy, toast with butter, hash browns, a pint of rocky road ice cream, a Mountain Dew soft drink and bear claw pastries.

He was set to go to his death without any family members present. Relatives visited Cooey last month at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown but chose not to make the trip to the death house at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Carson said.

[smurfcrusher]

"Double Murderer Had Argued He Was Too Fat To Receive Lethal Injection"

So much for that theory.

[blackyowe]

Can you see all the inmates trying to get fat if this had worked, LOL?

[questionnews]

Too bad they didn''t fry him in old Sparkey. At least there would be the smell of deep fry that would waft through the prison. It would smell like McDonald''s.

[Gary Kempf]

GOOD!!!!!

[bks59]

is the executioner a murder?

[hidegirlgcks]

Yes I too think the rest of the inmates on death row would try to get fat if he would have gotten away with it. I hope the families of these two girls can have some closure now. God be with them.

[heero78-2009]

he should have said that he was too ugly to die also.

[ppagan57]

michaelt302, why would he worry about his heart? 1. He never had one. 2. He was going to die anyway.

[credibility2]

I pray that the loved ones of this criminal''s victims can find some peace and sense of comfort and justice finally being served.

[rwsmith29456]

Not coddling people who commit crimes like this sends the right message.

[rational_1]

"Cooey dined Monday evening on the special meal he ordered, including T-bone steak with A-1 sauce, onion rings, french fries, four eggs over easy, toast with butter, hash browns, a pint of rocky road ice cream, a Mountain Dew soft drink and bear claw pastries."

Hence the reason why he was 5-7 and weighed 267 pounds. Dude, when you get to h3ll, mix in a salad once in a while.
Posted by rafterman1 at 12:17 PM : Oct 14, 2008

I''m surprised his last meal didn''t kill him before they got to him with the needle. What a waste - he probably could have given that scrawny little Japanese guy a battle in those eating contests.

[citygirl084]

How is it that giving him a lethal injection is inhumane but what he did to those two girls wasn''t? He will rot now.

[teutonicus]

your country is in the state it is in, rednecks and vicious revenge seekers. Ever heard about rehabilitation? The death penalty has not prevented one single crime from being committed. Yeah, and most people screaming revenge, revenge, fry him and whatever are avid church goers. Shame!

[teutonicus]

your country is in the state it is in, rednecks and vicious revenge seekers. Ever heard about rehabilitation? The death penalty has not prevented one single crime from being committed. Yeah, and most people screaming revenge, revenge, fry him and whatever are avid church goers. Shame!

[jmilah]

To bad all that food couldn''t save his life LMAO!!!!

[easeup-2009]

"She was raped, bludgeoned with a wooden club, stabbed in the neck and strangled with a shoelace. An X was carved into her abdomen.

Dawn''s best friend died with her, in the same brutal manner. Wendy Offredo, Dawn''s Alpha Delta Pi sister and co-worker at the Brown Derby restaurant in Montrose, was a 21-year-old National Honor Society scholar, gymnast and competitive swimmer who loved to write poetry, cook, eat at fine restaurants and paid her own way by holding three jobs. She dreamed of a career as a model and actress.

Both bodies were discarded on Labor Day 1986 in the woods near Wadsworth Road in Norton near Rolling Acres Mall, southwest of Akron.

Two men, Richard Wade Cooey II, 19, home on leave from the Army, and Clint Dickens, 17, were convicted of the crimes.

The girls, just off their evening shift, were headed to join friends at the Harbor Inn, a local bar. A chunk of concrete thrown by Dickens from an overpass disabled Offredo''s newly leased black Pontiac Fiero as they drove on I-77. Cooey and Dickens drove down to Offredo''s disabled car, pretending to be rescuers. The girls went with them, stopped to make phone calls - Wendy to her mom (she was worried about how to get to work the next day), Dawn to the police - then got back in the car with the men.

They never made it to the party."

Rot in hell, fat boy.

[messiahx4eve]

Liberals are ONLY liberal until it happens to them; when the action they protest against happens to them on that personal level, they are no longer liberal. They should have put him in a glass cage, pumped pot smoke into the cage constantly, gave him a blunt butter knife and told him to cut some of the fat off to feed himself his last meal, about a week in a special cage would do it, then put him into an isolation tank and let him baste for about two days, he would welcome lethal injection by then and not complain about how inhumane it was. Cooey was a pervert as a child and just got worse as he got older....good riddence to a waste of space.

[airboatboy1]

teutonicus-I think your wrong. I bet fatso here that just got put down like a mad dog will never commit another crime. And if he wouldn''t have been such a fat, whinin'' slob it probably would have been done sooner.

[cutetinia]

At least he knew the "Im too pretty to die" argument was out of the question.

[kaliwind]

To Teutonicus: Some people just deserve to die. How do you rehabilitate someone who thought it was just fun to vicously kill two young women? I don''t care one whit about Cooey, but I do care about the girls and their families. We don''t need people like Cooey taking up space on the planet and breathing our air. Good riddance.

[stopsocialis]

Hopefully He accepted Jesus Christ before his death

[liberalme]

Why did they feed and clothe and support this animal for 22 years? He should have been put to death the day after he was found guilty!

He should have been put to death in the same manner he killed those 2 girls--the needle is too humane.

[generey]

He will lose weight now wont he!

[catherine195]

fatboy''s mad now that he can no longer EAT his way to HELL!!! Fry fatboy fry!

[cbsguest6]

I want the time back I spent reading this article.

[keith.butler]

At times I am at war with myself over the death penalty. Do we, as a society, lower ourselves to that of the slime we have sentenced to death? Are we no better than they? Then along comes more slime, a maggot like Richard Cooey who shows no remorse, no apology, no consideration for those he killed or those left behind by his crimes. It is at that point I can easily rise above my conflict and succinctly state to those around me: "Hold him down, now who has a skinning knife and salt?"

[ekucrew]

At times I am at war with myself over the death penalty. Do we, as a society, lower ourselves to that of the slime we have sentenced to death? Are we no better than they? Then along comes more slime, a maggot like Richard Cooey who shows no remorse, no apology, no consideration for those he killed or those left behind by his crimes. It is at that point I can easily rise above my conflict and succinctly state to those around me: "Hold him down, now who has a skinning knife and salt?"


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Posted by kbut1945 at 01:25 PM : Oct 14, 2008

WELL PUT... NO IMPROVEMENT NEEDED ON THE STATEMENT!

[navyjimfl]

this animal won''t hurt anyone again

[navyjimfl]

your country is in the state it is in, rednecks and vicious revenge seekers. Ever heard about rehabilitation? The death penalty has not prevented one single crime from being committed. Yeah, and most people screaming revenge, revenge, fry him and whatever are avid church goers. Shame!Posted by teutonicus
Is this guy for real?.....rehabilitation? obviously this is a joke posting....The death penalty has not prevented one single crime from being committed? all the vicious trash who have been executed never committed another crime.....but some of the murderers paroled have murdered again.....think about it

ekucrew, I agree with you, nothing else needs to be said after reading what kbut1945 wrote.

well put navyjimfl, great rebuttal.

[briannorwood]

Well, looks like he wasn''t too fat after all!

[cbsguest6]

I''m puzzled as to what made this story news worthy...

[redbds]

I''''m puzzled as to what made this story news worthy...

Posted by cbsguest6 at 01:39 PM : Oct 14, 2008

If that is the case then why are you posting in this thread?

[fedup_w_pols-2009]

What it is cut and dry the criminal should die. Only if there is some possiblity they have the wrong person or the person might have been setup should we refrain from the death penalty. Otherwise take them out back and put a bullet in them and be done with it.
Posted by teutonicus-
The death penalty has not prevented one single crime from being committed. Yeah, and most people screaming revenge, revenge, fry him and whatever are avid church goers. Shame!

It has prevented those that were executed from ever commiting another crime 100% of the time. And you talk about church goers calling for them to die. What this tells me is your a liberal, one of those that has no problem killing a unborn with abortion but lord forbid we kill a MURDERING RAPIST after they commit their crimes, that is just cruel, right? We should not have to finance their existence in jail. A .05 cent bullet is all I am willing to spend. When I read people like you talking about right and wrong I can only hope that the next murderer they release that kills again kills your family members and not mine. Then maybe you will think otherwise.

[cbsguest6]

This guy deserved to die, what makes his story so unique?

[feedback3-2009]

Hopefully He accepted Jesus Christ before his death

Posted by StopSocialis at 01:05 PM : Oct 14, 2008
---------------------------------
Yeah, because then it doesn''t matter what he did in life, he can still get into heaven and get even fatter.

If justice was dispenced equally and fairly in the USA, I would argue that the criminal gets too many years longer after they have killed their victims.

If justice was dispenced equally and fairly in the USA, I would state the USA is too soft on crime.

[bkylws]

How did he get so much fatter on prison food? I worked in the medical department of a county jail in Texas for 2-1/2 years. The normal diet for Texas prisons is about 2200 to 2500 calories a day unless there are special provisions ordered by the jail doctor. So obviously he got a lot of junk food off commissary, which is very expensive in most cases. So my thinking is that he should not have eaten so much if he was so worried about a doctor or medic finding a viable vein. They can always find a larger vein or artery in which to inject the syrum.

[jamesetling4]

Good Bye, Fat Bazztard.

[whyaskwhy1]

I wish that pig had died slowly.

Bring back torture...

[nycez1]

Just drop the fat *** in a pot of scolding hot water and watch him boil put it on pay per view I would pay $39.99 to watch this scum bag boil no problem!

[simplemind2]

Thanks for the information.
Great news to hear another terrorist has been served exactly what he deserves.
Justice in this case is done!
Amen!

[summarex]

He dared to think big!

[noaanhc]

The say murderers cannot be rehabilitated to make them stop their criminal ways.

Well I disagree with that statement.This murdering
fat scum was executed,so now he is rehabilitated.

[easeup-2009]

It looks like he''s been already injecting himself with lethal doses of gravy.

[slim1h2o]

would pay $39.99 to watch this scum bag boil no problem!


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Posted by nycez1 at 02:12 PM : Oct 14, 2008


Man you''re gross, and no better than he. As far as I''m concerned...

[nycez1]

Man you''''re gross, and no better than he. As far as I''''m concerned...

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Posted by slim1h2o at 02:30 PM : Oct 14, 2008

The guy is human scum he is of no use to anyone how would you like to have this guy bumping into your teen daughter after dark....he should fry just put him in a oven and turn it up to max!

[slim1h2o]

Being into "watching" is one thing, and while someones taste could be in question, it is certainly not a death penalty activity.

U2PlayNice at 02:43 PM : Oct 14, 2008

Being "into watching" is one step away from doing it.


For real,,,,

[slim1h2o]

The guy is human scum he is of no use to anyone how would you like to have this guy bumping into your teen daughter after dark....he should fry just put him in a oven and turn it up to max!


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Posted by nycez1 at 02:52 PM : Oct 14, 2008


Don''t you people know how to read?

Where did I say I condoned his behavior? Where did I say he didn''t deserve to die?

WHERE,,,?