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Attorneys file motion to join appeal of Lorain County ruling that lethal injection is unconstitutional
By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Oct 10, 2008
Convicted murderer Richard Wade Cooey is seeking to join an appeal of a judge's finding that Ohio's execution method is unconstitutional.
Cooey's attorneys filed the motion Thursday with the 9th District Court of Appeals.
The appellate judges have yet to rule on whether Cooey is legally entitled to join in the appeal of a Lorain County judge's ruling.
The 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 on Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.
The former Akron man has been on death row for nearly 22 years after being convicted in the murder, kidnapping, robbery and rape of University of Akron sorority sisters Dawn McCreery, 20, and Wendy Offredo, 21.
Also on Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court denied Cooey's request for a stay. Later in the day, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request for a stay.
In the latter appeals, Cooey argued that his obesity and migraine headache medication compromises the state's ability to carry out his execution humanely. Cooey, 41, weighs nearly 270 pounds.
When arrested in 1986, according to Akron police reports, he weighed 191.
His attorneys are expected to further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2003, Cooey was less than 12 hours away from execution when a federal judge granted a stay.
Robert McCreery Jr., the brother of Dawn McCreery, said the family is frustrated by Cooey's attempts to avoid death and by the judicial system in general.
He said the family simply wants the state to carry out a sentence issued more than two decades ago.
''We're just looking forward to never speaking his name again,'' he said of Cooey.
In the Lorain County case, Common Pleas Judge James Burge ruled this year that the three-drug cocktail used to execute Ohio's condemned prisoners does not allow death to occur ''quickly and painlessly,'' as state law mandates.
The drugs used in Ohio sedate, paralyze and then stop the heart of the condemned. Death penalty opponents claim the paralysis masks untold suffering. Burge's decision is being appealed by the state.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the three-drug injection method in a case from Kentucky. The same drugs are used in Ohio.
Eric Allen, one of Cooey's attorneys, urged the appellate court to accept Cooey in the Lorain County case and request a stay of execution from the state Supreme Court.
''To deny [Cooey] . . . whose life and death is in every moral respect before this court would be an affront to basic notions of justice,'' Allen wrote. He could not be reached for comment.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh issued a statement after the Ohio Supreme Court denied Cooey's earlier request for a stay. She called Cooey a remorseless ''monster'' and said her office will work with the Ohio attorney general to see that the execution goes forward.
''Richard Cooey is running out of cards to play,'' she said.
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
Convicted murderer Richard Wade Cooey is seeking to join an appeal of a judge's finding that Ohio's execution method is unconstitutional.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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WADSWORTH, OH
Posted 05:32 AM, 10/10/2008
TICK-TOCK,TICK-TOCK,TICK-TOCK...
Akron, OH
Posted 07:02 AM, 10/10/2008
Na na
na na na na
hey hey hey
good FRY!
Posted 07:10 AM, 10/10/2008
he jusy needs a double dose
Akron, OH
Posted 07:18 AM, 10/10/2008
Odd that the right to life folks haven't been heard from. I guess they jes' pick and choose the criminal they don't want executed. Bye bye Cooey, y'all have been around way too long.
akron, OH
Posted 07:31 AM, 10/10/2008
fry him
barberton, oh
Posted 08:24 AM, 10/10/2008
Fat does fry
Akron, OH
Posted 08:32 AM, 10/10/2008
THE APPEAL PROCESS IS A BUNCH OF BULL, THIS MURDERER/RAPIST HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO LIVE AT OUR EXPENSE FOR 22 TO YEARS. WHAT ABOUT THE VICTIMS?
IT'S TIME TO MEET YOUR MAKER, WELL IN YOUR CASE THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A REASON TO TAKE THE DAY AFTER PILL. HA! HA!
Posted 08:43 AM, 10/10/2008
Everyone needs to remember this man has rights. He has the right to proper medical care, so I say they take him on a field trip to see Dr. Colt. I am sure one of his high velocity cranial injections of copper jacketed lead in the 230gr dose will do the trick. Dr Smith and Dr Wesson are also available for second opinions. Luckily, the FDA has approved this treatment for all creatures regardless of size.
Posted 09:03 AM, 10/10/2008
HERE IS A EXAMPLE OF WHY THIS COUNTRY IS BROKE AS A JOKE. IF THE TAX PAYERS HAVE SPENT SAY ABOUT 30,000.00 A YEAR TO HOUSE THIS INMATE FOR 22 YEARS FOR THIS RESULT IT COSTED US 660,000.00 . DO YOUR MATH AND GET A IDEA OF HOW MANY DEATH ROW INMATES WE ARE KEEPING ALIVE AFTER THEIR TERRIBLE CRIMES THEY HAVE COMMITED. WHY? BECAUSE THEY HAVE RIGHTS. WHAT ABOUT MY RIGHT TO BE ABLE TO SAVE FOR RETIREMENT , OR BUY PROPER HEALTH INSURANCE OR DO A HOME REPAIR , OR BETTER YET HELP SOMEONE WHO REALLY NEEDS IT. BUT OH NO OUR GOVERNMENT THINKS WE SHOULD FINANCIALLY SUFFER TO KEEP SCUM BAGS LIKE THIS AND THE COUNTLESS HUNDEREDS OR THOUSANDS OF WORTHLESS CRIMINALS ALIVE. I THINK CONGRESS AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE UP AND START OFFING THIS USELESS SPENDING OF OUR TAX DOLLARS BECAUSE I AM TOTALLY FED UP. AND TO MAKE THINGS WORSE , WE ARE GOING TO SEE MORE MURDERERS IN THE DESPIRATION OF MORE AND MORE INDIVIDUALS KILLING OVER MONEY AND PERSONAL DRUG FIXES TO DEAL WITH OUR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND THE I HAVE NO MONEY OR JOB PROBLEM. THANK YOU AMERICAN GOVERNMENT FOR ONCE AGAIN BEING LOUSY BUISNESS PEOPLE.
Posted 09:05 AM, 10/10/2008
I can just picture this jack-ace blubbering as he's taking his last walk down the hall to the gurney. "Whaaa, whaaa, I didn't mean to rape and kill those two beautiful girls even though that's the only way I could have had them because I'm a loser". "Whaaa, whaaa". FRY YOU FAT PUNK !! Meet your maker and see what he has to say.
Posted 09:08 AM, 10/10/2008
Actually Beta, I have seen quite a few Right-to-Life/Anti-death penalty folks comment on him. And they agree that this is one piece of filth who deserves to die.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:11 AM, 10/10/2008
Tuesday cannot come soon enough.
Posted 09:35 AM, 10/10/2008
Perhaps this is again a good reason to follow Thomas Jeffersons advice on lawyers.
"To protect liberty, hang all the lawyers"
To allow this waste of skin to live is fundamentaly an affront to all victims.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 09:48 AM, 10/10/2008
If they do off him Tuesday, I'll raise my glass.
Posted 09:57 AM, 10/10/2008
Sherri Walsh,
Please don;t involve yourself in this execution. The people want this man put to death and with your record don't involve yourself. Sherri would have plea bargained with this man just like she did with Earl Mann who committed as nasty an offense as Cooey did. Just stick to you 97% conviction of misdemeanor offenses with Plea Bargain specifications and let the real lawyers worry about Cooey and his iminent death.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 09:58 AM, 10/10/2008
I can understand if the appeals process is long... hey, it's not like they can bring a wrongfully executed criminal back to life. With that said, there's no reason for it to stretch on for twenty years either. I think we can reasonably get to the bottom of a case in less than five years... if it's necessary to limit some appeals or streamline the process to keep it to five years, then so be it. Sorry for the Cooey reference, but apparently there's a lot of fat to trim.
Posted 10:06 AM, 10/10/2008
Why are some people worried about a MURDERER feeling a little pain while getting an injection by needle, especially after victims were BLUDGEONED to death.
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 10:21 AM, 10/10/2008
this crime was uniquely evil and cruel...a totally selfish act by two totally wasted human beings that have never issued any kind of public apology...
richard cooey is deserving of whatever happens to him in a suffering manner
Brimfield, Oh
Posted 11:32 AM, 10/10/2008
I say starve the fat hog.
Ravenna, OH
Posted 12:01 PM, 10/10/2008
Since when is a bullet to the head in-humane?
Posted 03:51 PM, 10/10/2008
I think it's ridiculous that some of these guys on death row have been allowed to be there 20-plus years! There should be a time limit allowed on these cases and they shouldn't be allowed to drag out like this, at the taxpayers' expense!
Posted 04:11 PM, 10/10/2008
I really like the way executions are performed in China, as soon as you are sentenced to death, they put a bullet in the back of the skull,, and charge the cost of the bullet to the criminals family.
Sooooo,,, seems much more efficient to me. Lets outsouce this one job to China,,
Danville, CA
Posted 04:37 PM, 10/10/2008
I was a student at Akron when this happened years ago and have said from the beginning that Cooey should be publicly hanged, military style with two guards in tow and everyone standing at attention. We won't be but he should be.
Posted 05:27 PM, 10/10/2008
Richard Cooey--stand up and take your punishment like the rotten scum that you are--Your veins are not that deep that a professional wouldn't be able to find them. A word to our prison system--you must feed these criminals pretty good if he gained that much weight on prison food--take his food away till execution day and then he should have shed a few pounds.
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 08:59 PM, 10/10/2008
Is it Tuesday yet???
akron, oh
Posted 09:27 PM, 10/10/2008
why do these guys get to appeal for years on end but nothing to the famlies of the victims?? I say no more than 3 appeals and then BINGO--your time is up!!
Posted 09:40 PM, 10/10/2008
Our system is a joke to allow this to go on for twenty two years.
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 09:57 PM, 10/10/2008
In this case, they HAVE the right man. I say put him to death immediately.
Our system is such a joke that there are times they don't prosecute and jail the right people, but yet they imprison the innocent. Just call up Barberton and see what Clarence Elkins has to say about that one.
I can also say that the police and prosecutors there (Barberton) will pick and choose what they want to enforce because they do let a lot slip through the cracks there.
Posted 10:00 PM, 10/10/2008
Did the two girls he killed, inhumanely and painfully, get to appeal to him. I think not. Show him the same mercy her showed them...NONE! I say make it pay per view on cable. Just the opinion of a taxpayer who would rather pay to feed the homeless instead of the heartless.
Posted 12:36 AM, 10/11/2008
The demise of this murder/rapist is long overdue.
As Larry the Cable Guy would say, "Git er Dun"
Boston Hts, Oh
Posted 07:41 AM, 10/11/2008
Hey Richie...Its your last saturday , do enjoy!
See U next Tuesday!
Boston Hts, Oh
Posted 07:55 AM, 10/11/2008
Brian, Im not sure how Scumbag Cooey prevented you from saving for retirement or purchasing healthcare. Im a single Mom and I have been able to swing both. Are you sending your retirement money to Cooey?? Hmmm, That would explain how he bought so many Twinkies at commissary and got so fat.
I understand your frustration , However in order to preserve the rights of everyone,scum bags like cooey have to be afforded the same rights...sounds crazy, i know...Until you read about cases like Clarence Elkins,who would have spent his life in prison an innocent man, for a murder he didnt commit...or Bob Gondor and Randy Resh of Portage county,who were also wrongfully convicted for a murder they didnt commit. Seems Crazy, Unless YOU'RE the one wrongfully accused.
