Death Row inmate says he is too fat to be executed
 

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Aug...yCooey,00.html

I'm not sure if I understand why this is such an issue.

1) Why does it even matter if they can feel pain or not when they die? I'm sure it wasn't a pleasant or peaceful experience when the 2 girls he raped and murdered were enduring what he was doing to them.

2) If it really does matter that he is in such a state of comfort when he dies, why can't they put him on a diet and take him off those meds?

Because the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution forbids the government from imposing "cruel and unusual punishment."

Yes, we have heard this one before. It would be inhumane. Yadda yadda yadda. Was it uncruel and usual what you did to your victim?

That was along the lines of my thinking.

Whatever he did to whoever else obviously wasn't a pleasant experience... because it got him on death row... why again do we owe him one?

Is he just trying to get out of it or something by saying "well, sorry guys! I know I was sentenced to die for raping & murdering people, but I'm too big! I'll just hang out here for 40 more years until I die naturally!"

I see your point. And yeah, it was beyond cruel and inhumane what he did to his victims.

That doesn't change the fact that the Founding Fathers, following developments in English law, believed it was important to prohibit cruel and unusual punishment. It also doesn't change that many courts have found lethal injection to violate this provision if there is not adequate guarantee of unconciousness prior to execution. While it has upheld lethal injection in general, the Supreme Court has still left open the possibility that in some instances, lethal injection could violate the Eighth Amendment.

And sure he's trying to get out of it.

He's not too much of a lard ass to be lethally injected.

If this excuse flies, maybe they can put him on a health and fitness plan. Except it will be so he can die sooner rather than live longer.

I'm sure there's some gallows sturdy enough to hold him.

If only we could get Isaac Parker to come back from the grave to Ft. Smith.

his victim was too much alive to die...but he killed them....

"Would you get skinny already so we can finally just kill you?!?"

yeah that would go over well... lol

It's not that difficult to place a central line for IV access. Yeah it has to be an MD to place the line, but it can be done very easily. As for the medication issue, I'm sure that won't hold up either. If it does then everyone on death row is going to get fat and use the same excuse.

Exactly - we can go back and forth about the moral issues involved, but this is the major point. I'm guessing that this situation, however self-induced, would be one of those situations where it would be "cruel and unusual."

It doesn't excuse what he did, but it's the reality of the law.

A sledgehammer to the noggin would make him unconscious before the injections...

I motion to bring back the guillotine.

Cosign

My brother often said, "How much does a bullet cost?"