Gov. Ted Strickland today denied clemency for condemned killer Richard Wade Cooey.
Cooey's scheduled execution Tuesday would be the first in Ohio in more than a year.
The former Akron resident was convicted in the 1986 kidnapping, rapes and murders of University of Akron sorority sisters Dawn McCreery and Wendy Offredo.
Meanwhile, Cooey is seeking to join an appeal of a judge's finding that Ohio's execution method is unconstitutional.
Cooey's attorney's filed the motion Thursday with the 9th District Court of Appeals.
This move is the latest in a flurry of appeals being filed to stave off Cooey's death as his execution date nears.
He is scheduled to die by injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.
Also on Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court denied Cooey's request for a stay. Later in the day, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request for a stay.
Cooey has argued that his obesity and migraine headache medication compromises the state's ability to carry out his execution humanely. Cooey, 41, weights nearly 270 pounds.
His attorneys are expected to file further appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Strickland said in a prepared statement that he denied clemency based on his and his staff's review of proceedings, evidence, judicial decisions, Cooey's application for executive clemency, arguments for and against clemency and the unanimous recommendation against clemency by the Ohio Parole Board.
