Yeetle Box - The Weight of the Death Penalty

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. Richard Cooey, 41, is sentenced to die for raping and murdering two young women in 1986. His execution is scheduled for Oct. 14 - the inverse of his age, interestingly enough.

Lawyers for Cooey argued 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. This is the first time defense attorneys have used the "too fat to be executed" argument and hope it will set a precedent for future defenses of fat people being put to death.

His attorneys say a drug he is taking for migraine headaches (probably Excedrin) could affect the execution process. The drug Topamax (oh!), 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 to be killed. How he got so damned fat in prison is a mystery.

"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. "I mean, it could kill him!"

Prison system spokeswoman Andrea Carson and Jim Gravelle, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's Office, both said, inbetween sips of Nutrisystem, they hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment. In addition, they were scheduled for a day at the gym.

Last year, Carson cited the obesity of condemned inmate Christopher Newton (left) as one of the reasons prison officials had difficulty accessing his veins before his execution. Newton was 6 feet tall and weighed 265 pounds. However, the execution went on without a hitch, as he was put to death in spite of his weight.

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.

Prosecutors have cited both cases as precedent for continuing with the lethal injections as scheduled. Said one prosecutor, "All I can say to Mr. Cooley is 'fat chance,'; the scales of justice must weigh in."

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