Murderer's 'Fat' Defense Fails, Execution Set for Tuesday

A double-murderer who tried to use his obesity as a defense against the lethal injection is cleared by pre-execution examinations. Read to find out how he tried to push his weight -literally- around the legal system.

Richard Cooey, 41, a double-murder convict tried to use his weight as an issue to escape the gallows but failed. The 267-pound murderer argued that his obesity caused veins in his arms to be hard to find, thus making the delivery of deadly chemicals through the lethal injection inhumane. But officials at the death house disagreed when he arrived Monday. Spokesperson Andrea Carson said that a viable vein was found in both arms for the injection after close examination. But Monday was not Cooey's first trip to the death house; a U.S. district judge intervened in July 2003 when his lawyer needed more time to assess the case after an appeals court dismissed the previous attorneys for inadequate representation. Cooey, and an accomplice, murdered two college students in 1986. His 17-year-old accomplice was spared the death penalty because of his young age at the time of the murder. Cooey made appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati and the Ohio Supreme Court. All have dismissed the appeals, but Cooey is still waiting for the ruling of his appeal against the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling. Cooey has gained 73 pounds since being on death rolls, thanks to eating without exercise, as he is confined 23 hours everyday. For Monday's dinner, Cooey had a hearty meal because of the execution, 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. Besides arguing that his fat makes the lethal injection inhumane, he also complained that a migraine medication he's taking decreases the efficacy of the anesthetic used as part of the three-drug lethal injection. He said he wants the state to administer a single drug injection instead. No family is expected at his execution in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.