A double murderer scheduled to be executed next month in Ohio said Tuesday he has not deliberately gained weight to rule out his death by lethal injection.
Killer Richard Cooey has gained 70 pounds since his incarceration, which he says should block his execution.
Instead, Richard Cooey said in a death row interview that his execution cannot be carried out humanely under current state procedures because his veins are hard to reach.
"Vein access was an issue even when I was back in the service," Cooey, 41, said in an hour-long interview with the Associated Press at the Ohio State Penitentiary.
Cooey, 5-foot, 7 inches tall and 267 pounds, said he has gained perhaps 70 pounds while being locked up for raping and killing two University of Akron students 22 years ago while he was on leave from the U.S. Army. He blamed the weight gain on medication and lack of exercise.
"It's hard getting access to my veins," said Cooey, who was handcuffed and locked in a closet-sized visiting room. He spoke through a straw-sized slit in a reinforced glass partition.
Cooey said he has heard secondhand about comedians' jokes about the Ohio inmate who claims he's too fat to be executed.
But he says that ridicule reflects ignorance of his underlying claim that it's the inaccessibility of his veins that makes it difficult to get an IV inserted for a lethal injection.
The legal challenge is based on constitutional issues and not fear of execution, Cooey said. "It has nothing to do with weight gain," he said.
Instead of lethal injection, "If it would make people happy, shoot me in the head with a .45," Cooey said. "Do it legally."
I'm ok with shooting him in the head with a .45. He murdered two people. He doesn't even deny that. What I'd also argue, is that while your arms, legs and stomach have gotten fat, I'll bet that the veins in his neck are just fine.
When you murder someone in cold blood, you deserve to die for that crime. You robbed someone of a family member, of a friend. So, instead of whining about how it'll be "hard to find a vein", how about you man up and take your punishment? Is it really that difficult to find a vein, and if so, is it really that difficult to just shoot him?
Hanging's Constitutional. So's electrocution, firing squad, and the gas chamber. I'm just saying....
Travis
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