Cincinnati: Lawyers for an Ohio death row inmate who unsuccessfully argued that his obesity prevents humane lethal injection filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court to halt his execution, planned for next week.

The Ohio public defender s office filed the application yesterday on behalf of Richard Cooey a few hours after Governor Ted Strickland declined clemency. Cooey, 41,is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing two University of Akron students in 1986.

His attorneys had argued that prison food contributed to a weight problem that would make it difficult to access a suitable vein for lethal injection. Cooey is 1.70 metres and weighs 121 kg.

His lawyers also said a drug he is taking for migraine headaches could reduce the effect of the anaesthetic used in the execution process. In the appeal yesterday, the lawyers said the state has not offered other ways to anaesthetise Cooey during the three drug lethal injection.

State and federal courts have rejected Cooey s arguments, saying he failed to appeal his sentence within time limits.
Source : PTI