Obese inmate can be given lethal injection
10/9/2008COLUMBUS A federal appeals court and Ohio s high court have rejected a death row inmate s argument that he is too fat to die by lethal injection.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati and the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Richard Cooey s execution could go ahead as planned.
The 41-year-old Cooey is set to be executed Tuesday for killing two University of Akron students in 1986.
Cooey s attorneys 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.