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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.
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Leave a Comment:
How about two rounds to the back of the head, just like he did his victim!!!
Come "Election Day" let us all vote very wisely and put a stop to the politically correct azz holes whom by the way are destroying this once freat country. The power brokers worry more about this piece of useless material than the hard working citizens that pay all the bills for this entire screwed up world.
Take him 10 miles off shore and dump his useless ass in the ocean. He will sink and the sharks will clean up the rest.
End of story.
Wouldn't bullets be cheaper? Don't even have to worry about finding veins or any of that garbage. Do the old firing squad thing. Two bullets in 6 guns so you don't have guys burdened by knowing they had he bullet. Or I could recruit a couple of my friends who'd be happy to pump a couple of rounds in this POS.
Really? I don't see the problem. Just shoot him twice....in the back of the head!
Jimminy Christmas! Do the Buckeyes do anything right besides make tires?
I guess they just like blowing things up with air.
Tip: Just add more pressure until the sidewall fails in this case.
I think he answered his own question. He killed her with two shots to the back of the head; I am pretty sure that would kill him as well. If his size is an issue use bigger bullets.
So it's not OK for him to be uncomfortable for the few minutes when he dies but it's fine for us to keep him alive and dysfunctional for a lifetime.
If he's so obese he can't walk how can he shower, dress, use the toilet, etc w/o assistance? And how do they body cavity search him or is that what's meant by the long arm of the law? If he gets too fat to fit through the cell door do we have to let him go free?
Hee Haw
I have no doubt that if he was really sick and his life was on the line, he wouldn't hesitate - and in fact would encourage - a nurse. Dr or EMT to keep trying to get a line started for a life-saving IV. So, I have absolutely no sympathy for him if it takes hours and numerous sticks to get a line going. If all else fails, then do a cut-down and get a line into an artery, suture it in and fill him full of pentobarbitol.
just smother him with his own lard. what a F.P.O.S.
this lard A S S is still alive? what the hell is taking so long? OHIO needs to replace the chicken s h i t warden
Easy, shoot him in the head, as his victim was killed. No problem with his weight, and no problem with him suffering!!
I didn't read anywhere that this man has spent the last 30 years waiting on death row or if he was just recently incarcerated for the crime.
In my opinion and this is probably going to piss of those against the death penalty but he should have been executed a long time ago. And if he suffers a torturous death...so what, he shot a woman in the back of the head twice. He doesn't deserve humane treatment.
That's what handguns are for! If you did the crime, and need to be executed, then you shall die. Period!
He killed by shooting her twice in the back of the head. Let's do the same to him.
I'll pull the trigger and I've never fired a gun in my life.
lots of people are talking about prisoners rights DUH! they have no rights!PERIOD! and what about victem rights? do they not apply anymore?
LMAO!!!
Live by the brisket.. Die by the brisket! Put this guy on a mandatory hunger strike until he feels he's skinny enough to die. One way or the other, it won't cost the tax payers much for very much longer!
Get another death row inmate, hand him a gun (with 2 bullets) in a bullet- resistant box.... no pricey drugs needed and no running into any drug failure or "torturous or lingering death" issue. Maybe they'll get lucky and the other inmate will have been a good shot and then save the money with the second bullet.
A .357 Magnum shot to the temple. Quick and painless but a little messy.
when you go to prison you lose ALL YOUR RIGHTS!and when you get out you have to re-apply for your rights, let the fat A S S go and shoot the DAM WARDEN, better yet shoot them both
That used to be the way it was 60+ years ago. A growing liberal/secular humanist attitude in the country and courts has pretty well stopped that.
So shoot him twice in the back of the head. DUH !
Hang the S.O.B. with his weight, it would remove his head from his body!!!!!!!!!!
I will not even need to read all those comments for what I want to say: Death penalty means murdering someone, thus, it should be against the law!
It was against the law when he committed it! He didn't care what you thought then and neither do I now....
Death penalty is not murder, never has been, never will be.
It is government sanctioned elimination of a person that has no redeeming value and is a threat to society as a whole, such that the risk of escape or reintroduction to society is a greater harm than ending that existence. No harm no foul. Not murder by any rational definition, maybe a psychotic's but not anyone of decent human standards.
He killed someone and did not dispute the crime. Nor does he have remorse for his actions or the pain he caused this woman's family. How about this...if he is worried about pain just put a stick of dynamite up his ass. Instant population cleanse and he wont feel a thing.
Easy solution for him, guillotine. LOL. That was far too easy. Give us something harder to figure out. This is even more humane than the drugs and instant.
Wouldn't fly, sorry. There are documented reports from the French Revolution era of decapitated heads blinking their eyes and trying to talk/scream for up to 10 seconds. Liberals would be up in arms over that.