COLUMBUS, Ohio - A death row inmate scheduled for execution says he's too fat to be put to death, claiming executioners would have trouble finding his veins and that his weight could diminish the effectiveness of one of the lethal injection drugs.

Lawyers for Richard Cooey argue in a federal lawsuit that Cooey — 5-feet-7 and 267 pounds — had poor veins when he faced execution five years ago and the problem has been worsened by weight gain.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, also says prison officials have had difficulty drawing blood from Cooey for medical procedures.

Cooey, 41, is sentenced to die for raping and murdering two young women in 1986. His execution is scheduled for Oct. 14.

His attorneys say a drug he is taking for migraine headaches could affect the execution process. The drug Topamax, a type of seizure medication, may have created a resistance to thiopental, the drug used to put inmates to sleep before two other lethal drugs are administered, Dr. Mark Heath, a physician hired by the Ohio Public Defender's Office, said in documents filed with the court.

Heath says Cooey's weight, combined with the potential drug resistance, increases the risk he would not be properly anesthetized.

"All of the experts agree if the first drug doesn't work, the execution is going to be excruciating," Cooey's public defender, Kelly Culshaw Schneider, said Monday. (And? So? I'm sure the girls he raped and murdered died pretty excruciating deaths.)

Prison system spokeswoman Andrea Carson and Jim Gravelle, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's Office, both said Monday they hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment.

Last year, Carson cited the obesity of condemned inmate Christopher Newton as one of the reasons prison officials had difficulty accessing his veins before his execution. Newton was 6 feet tall and weighed 265 pounds.

Two years ago, convicted killer Jeffrey Lundgren was put to death after a federal appeals court rejected his claim that he was at greater risk of experiencing pain and suffering because he was overweight and diabetic.

then shoot him

DanceWme said:

Don't they still do hangings? Just more taxpayers' money wasted.

SCNDLS said:

Hanging? Shooo... Just crank up ol' Sparky and presto! you got bacon!

can they force him to do a 24 hour Pilates lesson ?

then shoot him

then shoot him

DanceWme said:

That oil spill 'd make the Exxon Valdez look like buttah.

Genesia said:

Stop, fool!

Naw put him in a cell with that dude from the Greyhound bus decapitation story.

I'm sure that guy won't mind getting through all the gristle. CHOMP!

paintedlady said:

Okay, why you gotta call it "gristle"

Speaking of, dontcha just hate it when you're eating a burger or sausage and you bite into some gristle????

SCNDLS said:

well what should I call it when it's like 42% lean meat?

paintedlady said:

Okay, why you gotta call it "gristle"

Speaking of, dontcha just hate it when you're eating a burger or sausage and you bite into some gristle????

SCNDLS said:

oh you mean a "knuckle" yeah I hate that too

SCNDLS said:

oh you mean a "knuckle" yeah I hate that too

paintedlady said:

Okay, why you gotta call it "gristle"

Speaking of, dontcha just hate it when you're eating a burger or sausage and you bite into some gristle????

SCNDLS said:

Okay...that just reminded me of the old SNL sketch where Roseann Roseannadanna thought a piece of gristle was a toenail.

i wish our country would move past the collective passion towards the death penalty. it's really disturbing

evenstar3 said:

So if he'd raped and murdered your sister what pushishment would you mete out?

SCNDLS said:

i can't say that for sure because i've been lucky enough to never be in that situation.

it's just like...with how flawed and corrupt the justice system is, I truly can't understand how anyone can go along with a practice that allows for the possibility of the execution of the innocent. It's well and good to imagine that only guilty people are killed, but just look at what the Innocence Project does, and the statistics on racial bias in the courts...