Cult leader says he's too obese for execution

AP via CNN.com ^ | October 18, 2006 | AP

[seowulf]

Nope. That won't work either:

Prisoner once found too fat to hang dies at 51
Former death row inmate had weighed 400 pounds, risked decapitation
The Associated Press

Updated: 3:53 p.m. PT Feb 7, 2006

SPOKANE, Wash. - Mitchell Rupe, a former death row inmate once found too fat to hang, died at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla on Tuesday following a long illness, a prison spokeswoman said. He was 51.

Spokeswoman Lori Scamahorn said Rupe died shortly after noon at the hospital inside the prison grounds. He had been there since Jan. 3.

Rupe shot two Olympia bank tellers to death at point-blank range during a 1981 robbery.

Juries twice sentenced him to death, but higher courts overturned the sentences. In 1994, a federal judge upheld his conviction but agreed with Rupe’s contention that at 400 pounds, he was too fat to hang because of the risk of decapitation.

At the time, Washington’s only manner of execution was hanging.

The main method now is lethal injection, although a condemned inmate can still opt for hanging.

Relatives of victims Twila Capron and Candace Hemmig attended numerous court hearings over the years, hoping to see him executed.

Three attempts at a death penalty
Prosecutors tried for the death penalty a third time in 2000, but a jury deadlocked 11-1 — just shy of the unanimous vote required for capital punishment. He got a life sentence by default.

Rupe declined an opportunity to speak to the court and smiled and waved to his elderly mother, Anna, as he was escorted from the courtroom.

Rupe suffered from a terminal liver disease, and there was doubt at that time whether he would have lived long enough to be executed even if the jury had been unanimous.

Frank Brown, the Walla Walla County coroner, estimated that Rupe weighed between 260 and 270 pounds at the time of his death.

Brown will perform an autopsy Wednesday, and the body will ultimately be released to Rupe’s family.

“An autopsy is done on all inmates that are incarcerated,” Brown said.

He said there were no immediate signs of foul play.

Former Rupe defense attorney Todd Maybrown said in 1998 that Rupe suffered from terminal liver disease, advanced cirrhosis and hepatitis C and had a life expectancy of 18 months.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11225694/

[Beagle8U]

They say that cattle feel no pain when they use those bolt guns in a slaughter house. Wouldn't that work?

[Protagoras]

Ok, so starve him and then needle him.

[Cobra64]

too fat for a 9mm at the base of the skull?

I don't know. Send him out to fill up his car.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

I know that in Texas they like to have a doctor on hand to pronounce the man dead. This way they can avoid having to do an autopsy. But the death sentence is actually carried out by others.

Exactly. The doctor is not an active participant in the execution, even if he pronounces the guy dead.

[Delta 21]

Asphixiation with inert gas is totally painless and will kill you very, very dead, very, very quickly.

[william clark]

I read a book about this scumbag some years back. A real sick puppy. As I recall, he attained some status in the RLDS church before his perversions and delusions of grandeur turned to murder.

[null and void]

I'm leaning towards anoxia. A lung full or two of pure nitrogen, and lights out. No toxic chemicals, no unseemly blood. Just a dead body.

[Cobra64]

give me the gun..i'll shoot him

Here's mine. Just give it back when you're through.

[Mrs Ivan]

Whooosh!

[Fatuncle]

Take him for an airplane ride ... shove his fat arse out the door at around 20kft ... without a parachute.

"If you learn to fly before hitting the ground, you're home free. Too fat? Maybe you should have cut back on the doughnuts, porky. Bye-bye!"

[null and void]

Bingo. See post #48

[Cobra64]

He is an opportunistic f-tard trying to exploit a loophole.

He should exploit this loophole:

[Ouderkirk]

I thought that this would be overkill

[TChris]

I wonder if he's too fat to throw in a pit and shoot.

I hear that a 30-06 will penetrate a considerable depth of fat.

[gun_supporter]

"They could hang him and not have to worry about if he weighed enough for his neck to break."

There was another case a few years back about a fat guy who couldnt be hanged because he feared it would take his head off, hence 'cruel and unusual.'

[Diamond]

as the AMA forbids its members from actively participating in capital punishment.

Except when it is committed against pre-born babies.

Cordially,

[Polyxene]

Another reason to vote for Blackwell! If Strickland is elected, he will try his best to do away with the death penalty altogether and stay any and all executions.

[Ditto]

How about a .50 cal between the eyes. That's real quick and painless.

[CougarGA7]

Fine, we will just cut off your insulin and let you go into a diabetic coma. Then you wont feel crap.