Richard Cooey is facing the death penalty in Ohio for the 1986 murders of two young women. But he has an argument for putting off his Oct. 14 execution: He's too fat.
Richard Cooey is facing the death penalty in Ohio for the 1986 murders of two young women. But he has an argument for putting off his Oct. 14 execution: He's too fat. He says doctors found he had poor veins when he faced the needle five years ago, and he is just fatter now. Cooey, 5-feet-7 and 267 pounds, reports that prison officials have had trouble drawing blood from him for medical procedures. And he says his weight could diminish the effectiveness of one of the lethal injection drugs. "All of the experts agree if the first drug doesn't work, the execution is going to be excruciating," Cooey's lawyer, Kelly Culshaw Schneider, said. Last year, Ohio executed a man after needing several attempts to find a vein, and the year before another man used weight as an issue in his appeal. It was denied.
I thought you had her
A vacation for almost everyone
While rushing to get to the gate at the airport, an Israeli couple en route to Europe for a vacation remembered their duty-free purchases, all 18 of their suitcases ... and, well, four of their five kids. That's pretty good, right? They didn't realize they were missing a kid until a flight attendant informed them 40 minutes into the flight. The airline put the 3-year-old girl on the next flight to Paris, accompanied by an airline employee, and they were reunited there. In classic family hijinks not seen since Home Alone 4, each parent apparently thought the other had her. Israeli police have scheduled a meeting with the parents upon their return from vacation.
Criminally stupid
Police follow trail to metal thieves
Police in eastern Kentucky were dispatched to the scene of a train track robbery. Literally, someone stole a 20-foot chunk of train track. They hooked a chain around it and dragged it from the scene along the road. You might be surprised how easy that made it for the police to find them. Better than bread crumbs, it gouged the road all the way to the place where police found four suspects.
Bathroom humor
Only horse had sense
A man in the Bavarian town of Kaufbeuren was riding his horse when he realized he needed to use the public facilities. The man, whom police would like to speak to, decided he didn't want to leave his horse alone outside. "The guy wanted to go in with his horse, but the horse had other ideas," police Officer Oliver Klinke said. "A horse most certainly wouldn't fit in there." The horse knew that. But the guy tried to bring him in anyway. The horse freaked a little, and did almost $2,000 worth of damage to the facility.
No outlet
A trucker with a load of dirt was driving down a Seattle highway and just couldn't hold it any longer. So he pulled over to relieve himself, and didn't park in a good spot, because his truck slid down an embankment and spilled 49 tons of river sediment. Police said if he had gone a couple more miles, there were filling stations that provide safe parking near toilet facilities. Whoops.
Compiled from Times wire services and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster, who can be reached at jwebster@sptimes.com.
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