Richard Cooey Executed

Richard Cooey Now executed.

In Lucasville, Ohio Richard Cooey, 41, was put to death by lethal injection as scheduled.

Cooey and Attorneys argued in numerous legal challenges that his weight problem would make it difficult for prison staff to find a suitable vein to use for the delivery of the deadly chemicals.

However, a prison spokesman reported there were no difficulties with the execution.
Cooey did shout for one of his attorneys during preparations because he was worried the staff would botch the execution.

In his final statement Cooey said “For what? You haven’t paid any attention to anything I’ve said in the last 22 ½ years, why would anyone pay any attention to anything I would have to say now” Cooey made no other comments; he stared at the ceiling and tapped his fingers before he died and his face turned purple.

Dawn McCreery’s and Mary Ann Hackenberg’s family was there to witness the execution.

The family was disappointed that Cooey was vulgar and hateful to the end.

"He still would not apologize and still would not accept responsibility for what he did," she said.

Three of Cooey's lawyers served as his witnesses.

"The government has no conscience, only policy. Today the policy was state-sanctioned murder of Richard Cooey," said one of the lawyers, Eric Allen.

Of course Eric Allen can say this since it was not a member of his family that Cooey raped and murdered.

Cooey was the first inmate executed in Ohio in more than a year, and the state's first since the end of the unofficial moratorium on executions that began last year while the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed Kentucky's lethal injection procedure.
Cooey and a co-defendant were convicted in the sexual assaults and slayings of McCreery and Wendy Offredo, 21, in September 1986. His co-defendant was 17 and was sentenced to life in prison because of his age.

The state has now executed 27 inmates since 1999, when Ohio renewed executions after more than three decades.

Richard Cooey back in the headlines…

Richard Cooey back in the headlines…

Richard Cooey the death row inmate that claims he was too fat to die by lethal injection, is now set to die.

The Federal Court of appeals and Ohio’s High Court have rejected Cooey’s argument that he was too fat to die by lethal injection.

The defense claims since he became so fat in prison the medical staff would have a problem finding a suitable vein.

That claim has been rejected by the courts.

Cooey, now 41 is set to be executed Tuesday for killing two University of Akron students in 1986. Cooey is 5'7" and weighs 267 pounds. I guess we did not feed him enough for the courts to validate his claims.

It’s sad that we have inmates that claim they are too fat to die, do the prisons actually feed inmates that much? I guess maybe if you lie in your cell and do nothing but eat, it could happen. But Cooey claimed he was not given enough time to work out, could he not work out in his cell like most inmates. Seem some take full advantage of having nothing but time to work out. Sad that we the tax payers have had to foot the bill for all of his delays in justice being carried out in this case.

And to the person that asked why it took 22 years, good question, I wish I had an answer for that question. I guess we should ask the defense attorneys and why they would want to keep him alive that long after his conviction. Maybe it was just more money for them. Who knows, I don’t.

Richard Cooey claims he is too fat to die.

Richard Cooey claims he is too fat to die.

Richard Cooey was convicted of murder, robbery, assault and kidnapping of two University of Akron students in 1986.

Cooey was sentenced to the death penalty and over the years he has been given a stay but now he is scheduled to die on October 14, 2008.

Now with the date set, Cooey and his lawyers now claim he is too fat to die by lethal injection, claiming since he is so fat they will have problems finding his veins. His lawyers reported that medical staff usually has a problem finding his veins now for routine medical/lab work.

Richard Cooey was 19 at the time of the crime and his co-defendant Clint Dickens was 17.

What happened, what did they do?

To start this event, Cooey and Dickens dropped a chunk of concrete off on an overpass on I-77 just as Wendy Offredo and Dawn McCreery drove under the overpass.

As soon as they dropped the concrete they headed down to see if the girls were ok and they offered to drive them to a payphone. The girls accepted the offer.

Cooey drove his two friends and two victims to a near by pay phone so that Offredo could call her mother and McCreery called the Akron Police.

Wendy Offreedo

**Note: this story I read referred to another person being with Cooey and Dickens, I have not read anything else on line that said there were more involved. I’m not sure if a third person was there or not. I will continue to look around and see if I can find the correct series of events in this case. If anyone knows, please leave a comment. ***

Dawn McCreery

At some point, they noticed that Offredo had some cash in her wallet and it was suggested that they rob the girls before returning to their car.

Cooey starts back towards the girl’s car, but they ended up in a remote area where they raped and robbed the girls. Cooey claimed he was innocent in trial and said he did not have forcible sexual intercourse nor did he cause the fatal blows.

The occurred on September 1, 1986, while Cooey was home on a 30 day leave from the U.S. Army. He apparently had just finished his six months of training.

However, even with his pleas of innocence, a three judge panel convicted Cooey of four counts of aggravated murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of felonious assault.

Even with his failed attempt of claiming he was innocent, he testified that he could not have committed the crime based on his level of intoxication and drug use. The panel refused to allow expert testimony into the trial. Mitigating evidence was introduced during the sentencing phase of the trial, showing that Cooey had suffered severe mental and physical abuse, abused alcohol and drugs, and had a mental disorder that was aggravated by the drug and alcohol use. Another mitigating factor brought into the trial was the Cooey’s youth at the time of the offense and his lack of criminal record. The three judge panel weighed the evidence against the mitigating factors and sentenced Cooey to death.

Clint Dickens was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Since he was 17 at the time he could not receive the death penalty.

Now all these years later, Cooey claims he is too fat to die. His attorneys are supporting him and his efforts to remain alive; maybe we should take the Tim “the Tool Man" Taylor approach and give lethal injection in Ohio MORE POWER!!!