Posted on 02/08/2006 5:48:27 PM PST by djf
Convicted killer dies in prison
By Jennifer Sullivan and Maureen O'Hagan
Seattle Times staff reporters
Related
* How Rupe's case evolved
Mitchell Rupe, a convicted murderer who was spared execution because he was too obese to be hanged, died Tuesday following a lengthy battle with liver disease.
Rupe, 51, was pronounced dead at the inmate hospital of the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. His weight was estimated at nearly 270 pounds. In 1994 — when a federal judge made national headlines for throwing out the death sentence, in part, because Rupe was too heavy — he weighed 410 pounds.
In 1981, Rupe shot and killed Olympia bank tellers Twila Capron and Candace Hemmig in a robbery that netted only about $4,000.
Two different juries sentenced him to death, but higher courts overturned the sentences for various reasons — including the federal-court decision that supported Rupe's contention that he was too heavy to be hanged because of the risk of decapitation.
Rupe said the hanging would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. At the time, Washington's only manner of execution was hanging. The main method now is lethal injection, although a condemned inmate can opt for hanging.
Prosecutors tried for the death penalty a third time in 2000, but the Thurston County jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor — just shy of the unanimous vote required for capital punishment. He got a life sentence by default.
Karil Klingbeil, Hemmig's sister, said she supported the death penalty the first two times she had to listen to attorneys present evidence, but by the time he faced a sentencing judge a third time she just was "exasperated" and "tired of the drama." She just wanted to see him locked behind bars.
"I feel like there's some closure on a roller-coaster ride," Klingbeil of Woodway said Tuesday. "I'm certainly happy he's met his maker. I'm sure he has a lot of explaining for his doings on this earth."
Klingbeil said her family tried to be stoic after the slaying, but it was tough for her mother and Hemmig's children, who were 7, 12 and 16 years old when Hemmig died.
"A day doesn't go by that I don't think about her, what a Christmas would have been like or what she might have looked like at 56," Klingbeil said. "It's a nagging ache that never goes away."
Capron's husband, Michael Capron, who moved to southeastern Alabama in 1995, said he was relieved when he heard Rupe died.
"Myself and my family have thought many times of the law changing and Mr. Rupe getting out of prison," Capron said. "That's always been a fear of ours."
Roger Hunko of Port Orchard, who represented Rupe, said his client regretted his actions.
"Mitch, when I represented him, was always a gentleman, a very intelligent man," Hunko said.
He said Rupe weighed more than 425 pounds — the heaviest the scale could measure — when the federal judge ruled he was too heavy to hang.
But that was not his normal weight, Hunko said. Rupe's physical problems had caused fluid to build up in his body and dramatically increased his weight.
In 1997, doctors predicted he would die of hepatitis C and cirrhosis within 18 months, but medical treatments helped Rupe outlast the prediction. Thurston County prosecutors said he was put on a strict diet to stabilize his liver disease.
At some point during his incarceration, doctors performed emergency surgery that allowed Rupe to shed 150 pounds of fluid within a few weeks, Hunko said. In 1997, while in prison, Rupe married Sylvia Lathrop.
The husband of one of the victims came to the bank around lunchtime to have lunch with his wife, and found her behind the counter, shot in the head. She died in his arms.
Rupe, that fat pig slob of a man, argued and successfully won that hanging was cruel and unusual.
I hope he enjoys his reward... NOT!!!
So in prison they reduced him from 400+ to 270 pounds. I see a potential here for the Thurston County to increase its revenues without any increase in property taxation. Successful commercialization of "Thurston County jail strict diet" could bring untold riches.
I think at one point in time they were ready to do a liver transplant on him.
That woulda really chaffed my hide.
I'd rather my hound had the liver than this puke.
Well, de mortiis aut bene aut nihil. He's dead, and nothing more could be expected from, or done to, him. Now let them dispose of the body and close the case.
I know.
But there's something about this case that always tore me apart, a young fellow goes to take his wife to lunch and finds her dying.
I'm normally not a vindictive person at all, but Rupe did not suffer any wheres near as much as he deserved.
They shoulda hung him. And if he ended up decapitated, everybody could have stood around and laughed and pointed at his head during his last conscious moments.
And that STILL woulda been too good for him!!
cruel and unusual punishment
It doesn't say cruel OR unusual. Ergo as long as its done regularly it doesn't run afoul of this test in the constitution.
If only the men in black would read the thing once in a while.......
I seem to remember something about that too, he was on the transplant list, or being evaluated to be added to the list or some such thing. IIRC there was such a commotion about it that the idea finally quietly went away.
they could have hanged him while he still had his feet on the floor. or hell, just use a high tension rappel rope and let 'er rip. who cares? instead, he eats himself to death in prison. great sentence!
"Two different juries sentenced him to death, but higher courts overturned the sentences for various reasons — including the federal-court decision that supported Rupe's contention that he was too heavy to be hanged because of the risk of decapitation."
Perhaps Rupe would have lost his head about the possibility of decapitation. Big deal! He would have found a convenient way to lose about 20 pounds of ugly fat almost instantaneously.
And what exactly is wrong with him being decapitated by hanging? Seems this would appease the "humane" crowd - as he might very well die quicker that way than by traditinal hanging....
I remember that day of the murders, too - I lived in Washington then ... Rupe should not have been breathing air and eating candy bars the next day if justice had been served in this case --- which it most certainly was not. There was no doubt of his guilt, just hand-wringing over his girth. How ridiculous.
I remember the transplant controversy, too.
In fact, I recall protests by people saying they would not approve the donation of the organs of deceased loved ones if there was a chance anything might go to a convicted murderer. Who can blame them?
He gained the weight in prison before he lost it there. Thirteen years passed between the murder and the first scheduled execution dates, and then another twelve years after that until he died.
There's a big controversy going on now here in Washington where beaucoup public dollars were spent doing cosmetic surgeries on people. Penile implants and the like...
Meanwhile, they keep pumping up the gas tax at every turn. The roads, you know... we gotta fix the roads.
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