Death Row inmate says he is too fat to be executed

[texas*princess]

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

COLUMBUS, Ohio — 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.

Lawyers for Richard Cooey argue 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.

Cooey, 41, is sentenced to die for raping and murdering two young women in 1986. His execution is scheduled for Oct. 14.

His attorneys say a drug he is taking for migraine headaches could affect the execution process. The drug Topamax, 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.

"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 Monday.

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?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

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.

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

[Benzgirl]

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?

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

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!"

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

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?

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.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

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.

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.

[DSTCHAOS]

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.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

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.

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

[socialite]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

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.

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

yeah that would go over well... lol

[AXi1257]

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.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by AXi1257

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.

Most physicians will have nothing to do with that because of their "do no harm" clause.

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

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?

Maybe because we're supposed better and more humane than a murderer? It makes us no better than him if we make him suffer, though we're no better than him in putting him to death anyways. Personally I think any form of capital punishment is barbarous, and most of the civilized world agrees, but apparently not the Supreme Court.

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by kstar

Most physicians will have nothing to do with that because of their "do no harm" clause.

Isn't Kevorkian looking for work?

Personally I think any form of capital punishment is barbarous, and most of the civilized world agrees, but apparently not the Supreme Court.

Or me.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by kstar

Most physicians will have nothing to do with that because of their "do no harm" clause.

Yeah, selective citation of the Hippocratic Oath, although I'm not sure where you get "most." That "do no harm" stuff doesn't seem to bother lots of doctors when it comes to abortion. (Nor, for that matter, does that specific line in the Hippocratic Oath, now usually left out altogether: "I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.")

I know that there are medical baords that say they cannot allow doctors to participate in executions because it would violate medical ethics. I also know that there have been court decisions saying that if the state requires the presence of a doctor, the medical board can't discipline the doctor for doing what the law requires.

[Elephant Walk]

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.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

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

We still have hanging here in my state (last one was in 1993). But a prisoner won a hearing years ago to have his death sentence by hanging changed to lethal injection because at more than 400 lbs. medical advisors said he would be decapitated.