Judge Rules Ronald Post Not Too Fat For Execution

Columbus, OH — A judge has ruled that Ronald Post, a convicted killer trying to delay his execution because of his extreme weight, is not too fat for execution.

Post, who weighs over 400 points, contends that his weight could cause him to suffer from extreme pain during the procedure, reports AOL.

But a federal judge ruled on Monday that Post’s request to postpone his execution hasn’t raised enough issues to warrant a legal challenge. Death row inmates are only allowed one federal appeal when they allege the same set of facts, normally.

Judge Leslie Wells stated in Cleveland on Monday that Post had raised similar claims during his first set of federal appeals in 1997. She added:

“[Post] has not demonstrated in his new petition that his medical condition has changed so significantly, or that Ohio’s new lethal injection procedures have changed so radically, since he filed his first petition in 1997 that his original core complaints are transformed into something new.”

The Chicago Tribune notes that Ronald Post’s weight, along with the state’s death penalty drug protocols, would create a certainty of “substantial risk for serious and psychological pain” and a “torturous and lingering death.” They also believe that the convicted killer’s obesity would make it difficult for a doctor to find a vein for lethal injection.

The attorneys also argued that an intramuscular injection may not kill Post because of his high weight. Post was sentenced to die in 1986 for the 1983 shooting death of hotel desk clerk Helen Vantz in Elyira, Ohio.

Along with his weight objections, Post is trying to postpone his execution so he can prove that claims he made a full confession to several people were falsely exaggerated. Post’s execution is currently set for January 16.

Do you believe that Ronald Post is “too fat to die”?