His weight won’t stop his execution

A federal appeals court and Ohio’s high court have rejected a death row inmate’s argument that he is too fat to die by lethal injection.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati and the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Richard Cooey’s execution could go ahead as planned.

The 41-year-old Cooey, who is 5-feet-7 and weighs 267 pounds, is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing two University of Akron students in 1986.

Cooey’s attorneys argued that prison food and limited exercise opportunities contributed to a weight problem that would make it difficult for the execution team to find a viable vein for lethal injection.