COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A condemned Ohio inmate
who weighs at least 480 pounds wants his upcoming execution delayed,
saying his weight could lead to a "torturous and lingering death."
Ronald Post, who shot and
killed a hotel clerk in northern Ohio almost 30 years ago, said his
weight, vein access, scar tissue and other medical problems raise the
likelihood his executioners would encounter severe problems. He's also
so big that the execution gurney might not hold him, lawyers for Post
said in federal court papers filed Friday.
"Indeed, given his unique
physical and medical condition there is a substantial risk that any
attempt to execute him will result in serious physical and psychological
pain to him, as well as an execution involving a torturous and
lingering death," the filing said.
Post, 53, is scheduled to die Jan. 16 for the 1983 shooting death of Helen Vantz in Elyria.
A spokeswoman for the prisons department had no comment on the pending litigation.
Inmates' weight has come up previously in death penalty cases in Ohio and elsewhere.
In 2008, federal courts
rejected arguments by condemned double-killer Richard Cooey that he was
too obese to die by injection. Cooey's attorneys had 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, who was 5-foot-7 and weighed 267 pounds, was executed Oct. 14, 2008.
In 2007, it took Ohio
executioners about two hours to insert IVs into the veins of condemned
inmate Christopher Newton, who weighed about 265 pounds. A prison
spokeswoman at the time said his size was an issue.
In 1994 in Washington
state, a federal judge upheld the conviction of Mitchell Rupe, but
agreed with Rupe's contention that at more than 400 pounds, he was too
heavy to hang because of the risk of decapitation. Rupe argued that
hanging would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
After numerous court rulings and a third trial, Rupe was eventually sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2006.
Ohio executes inmates with a single dose of pentobarbital, usually injected through the arms.
Medical personnel have had a
hard time inserting IVs into Post's arms, according to the court
filing. Four years ago, an Ohio State University medical center nurse
needed three attempts to insert an IV into Post's left arm, the lawyers
wrote.
Post has tried losing weight, but knee and back problems have made it difficult to exercise, according to his court filing.
While at the Mansfield
Correctional Institution, Post "used that prison's exercise bike until
it broke under his weight," according to the filing.
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