Inmate on Death Row Tries to Delay Execution Because...He's Too Fat

COLUMBUS, Ohio (TheBlaze/AP) — Attorneys for a condemned inmate who weighs 480 pounds argue he faces a torturous and lingering death if his execution is carried out early next year.

Ronald Post, who shot and killed a hotel clerk in northern Ohio almost 30 years ago, says his weight, vein access, scar tissue and other medical problems raise the likelihood of severe complications with an execution.

Lawyers for the 53-year-old, 6-foot-3-inch Post also said in their federal court filing Friday the inmate is so big the execution gurney might not hold him.

The shooting of Helen Vantz occurred in 1983, and Post is scheduled to to die by lethal injection on Jan. 16. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer though reports Vantz's son William laughing when he initially heard of the request by the lawyers:

"I don't care if they have to wheel him in on a tractor-trailer; 30 years is too long," William Vantz said. "Enough is enough. This is just an excuse to get out of the execution."

In a separate letter to the editor of The Morning Journal (via New York Daily News), William Vantz wrote last year:

Some have said that since it’s been so long just let him stay in prison for the remainder of his natural life. No! I am as committed to this as the day he took her life. I will never forgive or forget what he took from us. We all have recourse to the law and it’s time he paid his debt to society. It’s way overdue!

According to the Plain-Dealer, Post's weight has fluctuated over the years. He had previously used the prison bike until it broke due to his weight. He was then using a walker but is now at risk for falling and discouraged from walking. The filing also said he suffers depression that affects his eating.

The Plain-Dealer also notes that Post's "unusual" no contest plea in court proceedings years ago has been used as leveraged for these appeals. It states that Post didn't admit guilt but didn't contest facts presented against him.