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:
I can't believe he has been on death row for 30 years. He should have been executed 29 years ago. No compassion for the victim he put 2 bullets into, he shouldn't expect anymore than that. Worthless waste of a large amount of space.
Why not use a firing squad? A 30.06 won't have a problem getting in the right place. Then it would be a tooth for a tooth, and eye for and eye, etc.
This is a joke.
Throw an Anaconda in his cell, if those things can eat cows then he should be a piece of cake for them.
" ...severe depression has contributed to his inability to limit how much he eats, his filing said." The prison has full control over how much he eats. This isn't some guy who goes grocery shopping and sits in front of the TV for hours eating, HE IS IN PRISON! If prisoners are getting fat they are being fed too much, his weight problem should have been nipped in the bud years ago. His victim wasn't allowed the luxury of becoming depressed and gaining weight or any of the other "terrible" things this monster has had to suffer. Her family is still suffering, put him out of their misery.
The solution is easy. Give him no food for six months prior to his execution. Then he'll be slim and healthy for his execution. Fat bastard didn't have any issue shooting a woman in the back of the head twice.
Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. I'd like to test that theory starting with this waste of space.
30 years is to long. He needs to pay for what he did. I guess putting 2 bullets into the back of Mrs. Vantz wasn't cruel. I could care less if he would have serious physical and mental problems if they attempted to put him to death and failed. Like the school teacher used to say - we'll keep doing it again and again and again until we get it right. Severe depression has contributed to his ability to limit how much he eats and thus fails to loss weight. BULLSHIRT!!!!!!!!!! The prison can limit how much he eats. Just because he is a lard ass, it doesn't give him the right not to pay for what he did (murder). Don't let him recieve the gift of life by commuting his sentence to life. Bullets are real cheap and if you (the state of Ohio) can't afford them, I will be glad to buy them for you!!! Just one Okie that believes in justice!
Good God, just fire up the electric chair then or as stated above, firing squad. Why is ANY consideration being given to the fat slob? I totally agree that 30 years is WAY too long for these reprobates to be sitting on death row. This guy's grocery bill alone could feed a family of four for 30 years.
But then the argument would be, there is not enough BBQ sauce! Oh my mistake, it's a man. At 450lbs I thought we were talking about a hog or a steer.
Pretty sure a bullet to his brain would kill him as quickly as it would a thin guy.
just saying....
Come on ..... give him a triple dose like they do his food in prison & be done with it. Better yet turn him around and shoot him twice in the back of his head like his victim.
So what's the problem?
Another bullet in the head vote.
the good guy - What the hell does that have to do with the article we are discussing? Take your political BS elsewhere!
So shoot him in the back of the head like he did his victim.
I could care less if he were to weigh a ton. You're never too fat to meet the Reaper, and as for that remark about torturous death... perhaps Jabba the Hutt here should've thought about that a little more before he started killing people. How about their deaths? How about their families? Fat slob is so self-centered and spineless along with his mule-lawyer that he spends more camera time whining about his own self than those of his victim. What remose he displays... Nope. Just jab a needle in a roll of fat and end his eating.
Put him on a chain gang til he loses the weight, then fry him.
Oh, and I'm sure that hotel clerk that you murdered had a pleasant and peaceful journey to death... Screw you! Fry the beast!!!
What about the trauma he caused his victim? Give him the same thing he gave his victim twwo bullets.
Just brain him with an axe. Doesn't matter how much you weigh, that will get the job done.
Are you friggin kidding me?? How does he get that fat on prison food. No wonder my taxes are so friggin high!!!!
Bullets are cheap. Put one in the forehead so he knows it is coming ... piece of sh|t!!!
I am sure he thought of the psychological stress he caused prior to putting two bullets in the back of the victims head.
If they would have killed him 29 years ago like they should have, his weight would not be an issue now.
If you are guilty of murdering someone in cold blood, why should anyone be worried about how inconvenienced you may be in your being put to death? Hell, mix a lethal dose of something into his food, let him eat it and go to sleep.
Did he take Helen Vantz's medical conditions into account when he put two bullets in the back of her head?
I didn't think so. Execute him and get it over with.
Sorry Shiloh, but there could be a serious loss of life if anyone got near that crotch....WHEW!
I say we should show him the same compasion he did to the innocent victim he shot twice in the back of the head.
I'll chip in a $1.00 to buy the bullets, and clean the gun after (can't pull the trigger - not an Ohio state employee).
I will never understand how defense lawyers live with themselves when they represent some of the most horrible monsters this planet breathes life into. Especially when many of these pieces-OS have been given a fair trial, found guilty and even when they are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I agree..30 years is far too long for a murderer to live behind bars. Our justice system needs an over-haul of the laws that protect the guilty and cause the victims and their families more and more years of pain and sorrow. What is wrong with this country when a convicted killer can "call the shots" before and after murdering someone?? I thought that once a person was convicted of a crime, they no longer had any rights. This POS has obviously exhausted the appeals system....so why was he kept fed and clothed for 30 years at the taxpayers AND his own victims' family's expense??? I only imagine that the lawyers who defend these heartless and cold-blooded killers never have a good night's sleep. At least I hope you don't!!!
Just a voice in NC: Because by law everyone (in the U.S.) has a right to a "fair trial," even in cases where everyone knows it shouldn't be this way........... (It's unfortunate in cases like this, however.)
Defense attorney's are able to live with themselves because every once in a while they are actually defending an innocent person. Everyone in the U.S. has the right to a fair trial because people fought to give us those rights due to an ineffective system that allowed those without power (the non-white, the poor, women, children, etc.) to be punished without actual evidence. Finally, we don't execute right away because to many people have been proven innocent after a decade or more on death row.
This man may be guilty; that really wasn't decided because he plead "no contest" rather than "guilty", perhaps he should have been executed long ago going by the legal standard in Ohio but individuals are not executed right away due to the above mentioned rights that provide automatic appeal to a death sentence. Because of the number of people on death row and the finality to the punishment the appeals process is long.
Were it my child on death row I would want every chance to spare his or her life so I don't complain about the length of time it takes to get through the process. Given the sheer number of individuals who have been released due to actual evidence that contradicts the guilty verdict that is not out of the realm of possibility for any of us.