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Ohio Inmate Facing Execution Asks State for Mercy
AP (2008-08-25)
Richard Cooey ODRC
COLUMBUS, OHIO (wosu) - A death row inmate who says he's so fat that Ohio executioners would have trouble finding his veins is ready to plead for mercy today before the state parole board.

Defense attorney Dana Cole told the Ohio Parole Board that 41-year-old Richard Cooey isn't the same person who committed the murders of two college students and is remorseful to the point of self-loathing.

It's the second time Cooey has asked the state for clemency -- a final stage in a death row inmate's appeal process that lets the governor consider the entire picture of an offender's case.

The Ohio Parole Board will make a recommendation to Governor Strickland after the hearing. Strickland can follow the board's ruling or make his own decision.

Cooey made a similar request in 2003 but was rejected by the parole board and then Governor Taft.


(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) © Copyright 2009, wosu