E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Corrections via AP
Undated photo of death row inmate Ronald Post
A condemned Ohio inmate who weighs 480 pounds and has a history of difficulty losing weight argues he would face a "torturous and lingering death" if executed in January.
Ronald Post, who shot and killed a hotel clerk in northern Ohio almost 30 years ago, said his weight, vein access, scar tissue, depression 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. The woman worked in a motel Post was robbing, and died after the man shot her twice in the back of the head.
According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Vantz's son, William, laughed when he first heard about the request, but immediately turned serious.
"I don't care if they have to wheel him in on a tractor-trailer; 30 years is too long," he said, according to The Plain Dealer. "Enough is enough. This is just an excuse to get out of the execution."
A spokeswoman for the prisons department had no comment on the pending litigation.
Post's attorneys also want more time to pursue arguments that claims of a full confession by the inmate to several people have been falsely exaggerated.
If you think we're fat now, wait until 2030
"Post's case is about more than his weight, and his life should be spared for reasons wholly unrelated to his obesity," his federal public defender, Joseph Wilhelm, said in a statement.
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.
Post's request for gastric bypass surgery has been denied, he's been encouraged not to walk because he's at risk for falling, and severe depression has contributed to his inability to limit how much he eats, his filing said.
According to The Plain Dealer, Post's attorneys said his weight has yo-yoed for years. At one point, the paper reported, the 6-foot-3 convict lost 150 pounds. While at the Mansfield Correctional Institution, Post "used that prison's exercise bike until it broke under his weight," according to the filing.
Post currently uses a wheelchair at the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus, The Plain Dealer reported.
In an open letter last year, William Vantz said that he’s still waiting for justice to be served for his mother.
“Some have said that since it’s been so long just let [Post] stay in prison for the remainder of his natural life. No!” William Vantz wrote for the Morning Journal.
"I am as committed to this as the day he took her life. I will never forgive or forget what he took from us. We all have recourse to the law and it’s time he paid his debt to society. It’s way overdue!"
Post's case is unusual, as the man pleaded no contest to the murder charges, The Plain Dealer reported. That means he did not admit to having committed the crime, but chose instead not to challenge the facts presented by the prosecution.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Peregrine CEO Wasendorf pleads guilty in $100 million embezzlement scheme
- 7 held, 2 hunted in $165,000 lottery scam targeting elderly
- $7 million in gold found in dead Nevada man's home
- 'I have PTSD ... So what?' Army veteran's essay resonates
- Family saves eight kids from drowning in Oregon lake
- Video: New evidence could clear Army doc of 1970 slayings
Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
"Too Big to Fail" meet "Too Fat to Die."
The similarities are uncanny...
Two bullets to the back of his head would be immeadiate and cost about 50 cents
why dont they shoot the loser instead; it is ok for him to make other people suffer when he committed the crime but when it is his own ass he whimps out what a jerk; why does the jail where he is staying allow a guy like him get fat whatever happen to a bread and water diet; our bleeding heart society attitude has gone way too far
Othmar Brunner
Here's an EASY FIX...... Dig a big hole in the ground and have that fat TURD stand at the end of the hole and place TWO 44 cal. bullets in his forehead. Have a bulldozer stand by to push him over in the hole if he falls the wrong way. STOP PLACATING CONVICTED MURDERS!!!
A single gun shot to the back of his head with .45 cal would not be cruel. I believe it would be quick and painless death and proper justice for the type of murder he was convicted off. I am not in favor of the death penalty but it does seems correct for sentence imposed by the state.
To the Governor of Ohio
I will supply the transportaion, board and lodging, equipment and ammunition necessary to come and execute this individual.
It will be quick and painless.
One shot to the head and it will be over.
Cleaning the mess afterwards will be your issue to deal with.
No worries there's still external jugular access or IO access. I like IO access it's much easier to drill than start an IV.
Gumdrop - the system isnt perfect, that is for sure, but your 'noble' views on capital punishment are displaced in this particular case and most other ones too. Most of these creeps deserve what they are getting and more for their henious (and in most cases indisputably proven) crimes and they just love to work the system and love suckers like you who think you are doing the noble thing by standing in the way of due process to protect the 'rights' of 99% of these sh!tbags who deserve to be where they are.
And yeah ask yourself how does a guy like this remain overweight unless our tax dollars are feeding him enough to sustain this weight? Why is he not on a diet or eating at least a 'normal' amount? Dont you see - here is yet another example of this sh!tbag taking us all for a ride.....he is sitting in his comfy tax paid cell eating another snickers bar 'snickering' at the likes of you.
Wow. Reading these comments is a rude awakening to how backward and unevolved so many are. We are not an eye for an eye type of society. No civilized place is. All off you yelling to bludgeon the man, shoot him in the head or some other cruel thing are no better than he you perceive him to be. I'd like to remind you that you can kill him a thousand times over and it won't bring that lady back and it won't bring her son the sense of peace he thinks it will. His mother is still dead; nothing will ever change that. Additionally, I'd like to remind those crying about how our justice system is so flawed for giving criminals too many rights, that if they some how ended up on the wrong side of the law and were on death row (many people end up there through no fault of their own-just ask the folks who work for the human innocence project or the people who have been set free as a result) you too would be doing everything in your power to put off execution. It's just nature to try and live at all costs-you can't fault anyone for that. Have some empathy and compassion. It's easy to do for the victim, but it's a real test of charcter to feel this for the lowest of our society. Just ask Jesus. He was especially fond of the criminals and seemingly lost souls.
I bet it gives her son more peace than you think it will. I'm sure it's tortuous to him to know that his mother died at this man's hands, but gets to live. I'll bet that executing this man will bring a sense of closure to her son.
You're right Sema - let's give him another snickers bar instead. Poor guy - he didnt ask to put that gun in his hands and pull the trigger directly at the head (not once but twice) of an innocent woman who for all you know had children who are now motherless.
PS At least Jesus wasn't a fat ass (at least if all the WASP depictions of him are to be believed) - no doubt he probably would have at least put this guy on a diet before he accepted him in his 'club'.
Most people don't find the comfort they think they will. There are many victim's families that are against they criminal getting the death penalty.
That may be true, but the son has already said he wants the guy to die.
Are you kidding me, enough is enough... I may be in the minority out loud...but I am sure in private I would hear differently. first how can he be so fat if he is in jail?... secondly, I dont think it should matter if he has pain or suffering...he killed someone for petesake! We need to be more strict with out convicted felons... and much more expediant! I like what they do in Singapore
PS-for those crying about how you get to be 400+ pounds in prison-there is this thing called commisary in which you can buy your own food with your own, not tax payer money. Also-if you're sitting on your ass in a cell for 23/24 hours a day, you're going to become quite obese. It's not far fetched.
Let the prison feed him only hamburgers, French Fries, Pizza, and greasy sausages and soon a heart attack will kill him. The prison can't limit his food intake? I guess dieting is really a fate worse than death.
Sema that is good information. I always wondered how these guys get so fat. All the more reason to flip the switch and put them out of theirs as well as everyone else's misery. And BTW I'm not asking this douche bag to suffer any more than he made that poor woman suffer as she came to the brief realization that she was probably going to die for nothing more sinister than showing up to work on the wrong day.
Now that I think about it probably the best way to punish him would be to take his rights to access the commissary away and stand around waving that yummy candy bar in front of his cell all day long.
So fat men are immune from being sentenced to death?
The death penalty would be more of a deterrent if sentencing was carried out shortly after being convicted of a death penalty eligible crime. Give a person about 3-6 months for appeals, then carry out the sentence after that period. Give them a choice of hanging, lethal injection, gas, or firing squad. I would like to add the wood chipper and being pushed into an active volcano or out the door of a flying plane.
One behind the ear. Done...
Next he'll sue for cruel and unusual punishment leading to his obesity. Tax payers are paying for him to appeal and keep him fat. This is why so many on Death Row often outlive the victims families. They never know if justice was served. More death row inmates die of old age than will ever be executed. If you are on Death Row you should have to do hard labor in order to earn your water, food, clothing, bedding and shelter. Instead they sit around getting fat................
Looks like he just walked himself into a salad diet until he dies!! Ruined his last meal too.
Execution laws should be straight forward and simple for murderers, execute them in the same manner they executed the victom!
In Soviet era Russia, when a prisoner was sentenced to death, sometimes the executioner was waiting behind the door to the prisoners cell. When the prisoner walked in, a pistol was placed on the back of the head and the execution was done.No cruel and inhuman punishment there. The prisoner was dead before they even knew what was happening. Turned off light a light switch.
Bet this guy isn't too fat for that method, or for a firing squad in general.
Two bullets in the back of the head.
1. Cheaper
2. Punishment fits the crime
3. Lead can take down anyone...even a fat b*stard like this piece of crap!
Fry the Fat Bastard....Stop forcing tax payers to feed and house this pathetic tub of lard.
Here's a great idea, he killed the girl at the place he robbed by shooting her twice in the back of her head,,, get one of your guards to put two in the back of his head.......
fat enough to kill ... fat enough to grille
Better yet forget about leathal injection just put two in the back of his head. After all if it was good enough for the victim why should it not be good enough for this fat F$#k.
I have a degree in physical anthropology as well as fairly extensive involvement with and expertise in medico-legal issues. I note that this gentleman, tho' obviously obese, does not carry a significant load of sub-cutaneous fat around the upper skull area. In fact, it's got no more cushioning tissue than my own head has. Therefore, I propose (and will even volunteer to carry it out) that we put a gun to his head and blow his effin' brains out. That resolution avoids any concern that his excess weight would somehow compromise his capacity to die a quick death.
Problem solved. Let me know when you need me...
Two bullets to the back of the head thirty years ago would have solved everyone's problem...
Firing squad. Done.