US death row inmate — too obese for execution

Post now weighs over 220 kg.

“Given his unique physical and medical condition,there is a substantial risk that any attempt to execute him will result in serious physical and psychological pain to him,as well as an execution involving a torturous and lingering death,” says a motion filed by his attorneys.

“Ronald Post is not asking for a stay because he is obese,” his attorney Joseph Wilhelm said in a statement,citing other legal issues in the case that he said were unresolved.

But Wilhelm said an anaesthesiologist had determined that “Ohio’s execution protocol simply will not work on Post. If it kills him at all,it could take up to 16 hours.”

The lawyer has invoked Post’s right under the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution,which protects citizens against cruel and unusual punishment. Unlike other states,Ohio only conducts executions by lethal injection,with a single dose of pentobarbital. No alternative method is offered.

In the court papers filed last week,lawyers said four years ago,emergency medical personnel at a university hospital in Ohio had to try three times to insert an IV into Post’s arm. The execution gurney table also might not support Post’s weight,the filing said. Post has tried to lose weight through exercise,but joint problems have impeded his efforts.

Post asked to be allowed to undergo gastric bypass surgery,but his request was denied. His severe depression makes dieting difficult.

Wilhelm said Post deserves relief from his death sentence because of numerous questionable legal issues in his case.