Posted on 10/19/2006 11:57:00 AM PDT by rattrap
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday delayed next week's execution of cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren to allow him to join a lawsuit by five other death row inmates challenging the state's use of lethal injection.
In his request to join the lawsuit, Lundgren, 56, said he is at even greater risk of experiencing pain and suffering during the procedure than other inmates because he is overweight and diabetic.
Similar lawsuits filed in several states have led to the halting of executions in Missouri, Delaware and New Jersey.
Opponents have argued that the use of the lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and painful and that the procedure is often carried out without specifically trained medical personnel present.
But Ohio's method of lethal injection came under national scrutiny by death penalty opponents in May after problems slowed the execution of another inmate who was a former intravenous drug user and the vein the execution team chose collapsed as the chemicals started flowing.
While Judge Gregory Frost issued an order temporarily delaying Lundgren's execution, he said it appears to him that potential flaws with Ohio's execution process could easily be corrected.
"Thus, any delay in carrying out Lundgren's execution should and can be minimal," Frost said.
State Attorney General Jim Petro will appeal the ruling to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, said spokesman Mark Anthony.
Lundgren's sentence stems from a conviction for the fatal shooting of a family of five in 1989. The family, which included three children, were killed while they stood in a pit dug inside his barn in northeast Ohio.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
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 Rupes contention that at 400 pounds, he was too fat to hang because of the risk of decapitation.
At the time, Washingtons 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 Rupes 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/
I don't know. Send him out to fill up his car.
Exactly. The doctor is not an active participant in the execution, even if he pronounces the guy dead.
Asphixiation with inert gas is totally painless and will kill you very, very dead, very, very quickly.
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.
Here's mine. Just give it back when you're through.
Whooosh!
"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!"
Bingo. See post #48
He should exploit this loophole:
I hear that a 30-06 will penetrate a considerable depth of fat.
"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.'
Except when it is committed against pre-born babies.
Cordially,
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.
How about a .50 cal between the eyes. That's real quick and painless.
Fine, we will just cut off your insulin and let you go into a diabetic coma. Then you wont feel crap.
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