Mostly, I just wanted to use the headline. The AP has a story on an Ohio inmate who raped and murdered two young women is on death row, but claims that he’s too fat for a proper execution.
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.
I suppose execution through starvation would also be objectionable to Mr. Cooey as well.
Personally, my objections to the death penalty have always had to do with properly identifying the perpetrator of the crime. If we have a high level of confidence that the person did what he or she was accused of, the manner of death doesn’t seem especially consequential. It shouldn’t be gratuitous, of course, but I’m not one of those who feels like it has to be perfectly painless either.
I agree-
my only concern with the death penalty is that we are “possibly” putting the wrong person to death.
If, however, we have a high level of confidence- then so be it.
If an inmate is sentenced to death and thinks his weight will make the execution unpleasant or prolonged, then he must use that as motivation to not spend his time (and others’ tax dollars) becoming obese. If the inmate finds that motivation to be insufficient, then it must not have been that important anyway.
The Electric Chair would still work, and Edison proved it can kill an elephant. There is also hanging, firing squad, and gas chamber. All are used by other states.
Looks like Ohio just needs to re-examine its laws.
Many death row criminals were let go in Texas especially , as I remember, after DNA became a reliable legal way to identify body fluids,etc,so many convictions got a second look. Many crimes aren’t subject to DNA however.Ive never been comfortable with capital punishment as it seems like a stunt,maybe even political-based stunt, to make people believe that law enforcement is doing its job,and now everyone is safe,so hurrah for the prosecutor and his team,and let’s elect him to higher office.
Depending on the political climate of a certain jurisdiction the death penalty seems to be used more self-servingly than as ‘justice by and for the people’ ,and this, for me ,puts the whole process in question .Merely finding someone guilty is evidently not enough,and adding a death penalty is like a trophy for certain prosecutors.
That said, I don ‘t feel regret for anyone put to death for a heinous crime,especially when the victims are random and especially with minors being victims. ‘Hate crime’ is an example of a random crime and randomly chosen victim ,but there is resistance for otherwise tough-on-crime advocats to even classify crimes by hate and random choice.. More politics…Our society must protect minors,but capital punishment may all too often be a cover-up for when government hasn’t stepped in otherwise.
With all that said, I’m in favor of removing the death penalty with a REAL life sentence. I think even in the most hideous crimes, the time to consider what you have done while behind bars is better than the escape of death.
However, after seeing this, it seems that putting some to death is the only way to be sure that they won’t come out again.
Jason,
Maybe that could happen in Spain but not in Indiana. There is a life without parole option, which means just that, you stay in prison until you die, unless somehow you’re able to prove your innocence or something.
Does anyone else watch those “Lockup” shows on MSNBC and think flipping a switch and wiping the whole place clean wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Prison on those shows just looks like a place to work out the body, get your body tattoo on, make shiv/get shiv confiscated/repeat, join your race brothers in some combat in the yard, compose bad rap or country songs, and slowly mellow with age.
If the future brings shrinking energy supplies and other resources, and ever escalating security costs, I can imagine it becoming harder and harder to justify warehousing tens to hundreds of thousands of violent repeat offenders or murders until the end of their natural lives.