Ohio ends moratorium on executions
Sometimes you agree with things that are in opposition to what you normally preach. Here is one such time for me.
LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Ohio on Tuesday executed a 5-foot-7, 267-pound double murderer who argued he was too fat to die humanely by lethal injection, the state’s first execution since the end of an unofficial national moratorium.
Richard Cooey, 41, died at 10:28 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
There were no immediate reports of problems finding suitable veins to deliver the deadly chemicals, a problem that delayed previous executions in the state.
Cooey’s attorneys had argued that his weight problem would make it difficult for prison staff to access a vein.
A prisons spokeswoman said Cooey received a pre-execution exam early Tuesday and was cleared.
He walked into the death chamber at 10:15 a.m. wearing gray pants and was strapped onto the gurney.
“You (expletive) haven’t paid any attention to anything I’ve said in the last 22 1/2 years, why would anyone pay any attention to anything I’ve had to say now,” Cooey said looking at the ceiling. He made no other comment.
From what I have read elsewhere. Gov. Ted Strickland refused to commute Cooey's sentence.
From a story at cnn.com:
Cooey and a then-17-year-old accomplice were convicted of the brutal murders of Wendy Offredo and Dawn McCreery, students at the University of Akron. The men had been tossing concrete slabs onto Interstate 77, and one of them struck Offredo's car.
Pretending to "rescue" the women, Cooey and Clinton Dickens took the victims to a remote field, according to prosecutors. There, the students were subjected to 3½ hours of rape, torture, stabbing and fatal bludgeoning. Cooey carved an "X" into the stomachs of both women, prosecutors said.
Each man blamed the other for delivering the fatal blows, but both were convicted of murder. Dickens received a life sentence because of his age.
I saw no attempt by Cooey to say he was not guilty of his crimes, only that he said he should not be executed for them.
In general, I am against the death penalty because of the possibility of ending the life of an innocent person. For Cooey, however, I shed no tears. Strickland did the right thing in allowing him to die.
Richard Cooey, 41, died at 10:28 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
There were no immediate reports of problems finding suitable veins to deliver the deadly chemicals, a problem that delayed previous executions in the state.
Cooey’s attorneys had argued that his weight problem would make it difficult for prison staff to access a vein.
A prisons spokeswoman said Cooey received a pre-execution exam early Tuesday and was cleared.
He walked into the death chamber at 10:15 a.m. wearing gray pants and was strapped onto the gurney.
“You (expletive) haven’t paid any attention to anything I’ve said in the last 22 1/2 years, why would anyone pay any attention to anything I’ve had to say now,” Cooey said looking at the ceiling. He made no other comment.
From what I have read elsewhere. Gov. Ted Strickland refused to commute Cooey's sentence.
From a story at cnn.com:
Cooey and a then-17-year-old accomplice were convicted of the brutal murders of Wendy Offredo and Dawn McCreery, students at the University of Akron. The men had been tossing concrete slabs onto Interstate 77, and one of them struck Offredo's car.
Pretending to "rescue" the women, Cooey and Clinton Dickens took the victims to a remote field, according to prosecutors. There, the students were subjected to 3½ hours of rape, torture, stabbing and fatal bludgeoning. Cooey carved an "X" into the stomachs of both women, prosecutors said.
Each man blamed the other for delivering the fatal blows, but both were convicted of murder. Dickens received a life sentence because of his age.
I saw no attempt by Cooey to say he was not guilty of his crimes, only that he said he should not be executed for them.
In general, I am against the death penalty because of the possibility of ending the life of an innocent person. For Cooey, however, I shed no tears. Strickland did the right thing in allowing him to die.
posted Jim Ross @11:45 AM 
