Richard Cooey, 41, has said that he didn't gain 70 pounds of weight in order to avoid execution by lethal injection.
Cooey was convicted for raping and killing Wendy Offredo and Dawn McCreery, two University of Akron (Ohio) students in 1986. Cooey threw a concrete block over an overpass, which struck the victim's car and approached the girls on the pretense of "helping" them. He and an accomplice then took the girls to a remote location, robbed them, raped them and then beat them to death. His accomplice was 17 at the time of the heinous crime and sentenced to life in prison.
Cooey was sentenced to death by lethal injection, but he claims that his veins are too deep to be executed without pain. Cooey stands 5'7" and weighs 276 pounds.
His execution is scheduled for October 14, 2008. He has never expressed remorse to the families of the two victims.
During a recent interview at the Youngstown state penitentiary where he is housed, Cooey told examiners that he would "take a bullet to the head" if that would satisfy people.
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