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GlimDropper
10-03-2012, 12:16 PM
The other day I was checking on an old e-mail account I seldom use anymore and was surprised to see a few new mails. A gentleman I worked for more than a decade ago was sending out messages to his friends and family about a situation that was causing him some aggravation. I've moved two or three times since I last saw him but still consider him a friend, he's a kind, gentile and funny man who always speaks in measured tones but I could feel his frustration through his words.

In 1983 my friend's mother was murdered. She'd been the night manager at a small motel some piece of human trash shot her twice in the head for a small amount of money and a 13 inch TV. My friend's name is Michael but he goes by Vince, never seemed to want to dwell on this, we were aware of it mostly because of his periodic trips to the courthouse when appeals were being heard. He isn't an angry or vengeful person but he quite rightly wants justice to be served. I'm not really a fan of the death penalty but that is what the laws of Ohio call for in cases of such senseless and brutal murder.

Ohio inmate Ronald Post says he's too obese for execution (http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/09/ohio_inmate_ronald_post_says_h.html)



COLUMBUS, Ohio — A condemned Ohio inmate who weighs at least 480 pounds wants his upcoming execution delayed, saying his weight could lead to a “torturous and lingering death.”
Ronald Post, who shot and killed a hotel clerk in northern Ohio almost 30 years ago, said his weight, vein access, scar tissue and other medical problems raise the likelihood his executioners would encounter severe problems. He’s also so big that the execution gurney might not hold him, lawyers for Post said in federal court papers filed Friday.



The rest of the article is at the link above.

This man has been in prison for almost 30 years and in that time he has exhausted all of his legal appeals, so somehow he's been stuffing his face with enough food to make him morbidly obese in hopes of avoiding a lethal injection (the only form of execution practiced in Ohio).

I believe this is the denial of his last appeal (http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/10a0295p-06.pdf) in 2010. A few points that jumped out to me. One, his defense council hired a polygraph expert presumably to aid in Post's defense and Post wound up confessing the murder to him and Two, at one point Post was offered life in prison in exchange for a plea of guilty. Now I am not an attorney and there are some issues regarding the effectiveness of council, should they have known that the "no contest" plea might not have be viewed as a "mitigating act" when it came to sentencing. Post was tried by a three Judge panel and I've read that one of the judges was thought to have misgivings about the death penalty (as do I) and perhaps his attorneys believed this would be enough to spare him his life. If so they were wrong. But the issue has been heard in appeals, and more than once. An appeal was filed to the Supreme Court which declined to hear it.

Now Ronald Posts hope hang on the copious amount of fat he's been (somehow) able to pack onto himself.

I say, just use a longer needle.



Here's a little more background on my friend Mike and his mother Helen:


Memories of mom: Son remembers life of slain Helen Vantz (with video) (http://morningjournal.com/articles/2012/09/30/news/doc5067be29e5c99055883634.txt?viewmode=default)



By KAYLEE REMINGTON
kremington@MorningJournal.com
@MJ_KRemington (http://www.twitter.com/MJ_KRemington)

LORAIN — Almost 30 years have passed and Michael Vantz’s memories of his late mother, Helen Vantz, are still fresh in his mind, whether it is the visits to Lake Erie to learn how to swim at the age of 18, or heading to downtown Lorain for summer movies when he and his brothers, Bill and Dan, were in grade school.

He remembers there was always an abundance of food, such as pork chops, spaghetti and meatballs, fish, mashed potatoes and vegetables. And Saturdays were always hamburger night.

“Dad was a great provider, and mom was an excellent cook,” Vantz said.

Vantz, now 60, remembers being disciplined by his mother, like the time he and his brother, Dan, and cousin, Chuck, were spanked by his mom for climbing on the family station wagon like it was an amusement park ride.
In that moment they wanted to be mad, but Helen Vantz was just being a loving mother.

And he wishes he could have had more time with her to stockpile additional memories.

On Dec. 15, 1983, Helen Vantz, then 53, was shot and killed while she worked in the office of Slumber Inn in Elyria about 5 a.m., a pencil was still clutched in her hand when her body was found slumped over her desk.




The rest of the article as well as a nice picture of my friend and his mother is available on the Lorain Morning Journal website (http://morningjournal.com/articles/2012/09/30/news/doc5067be29e5c99055883634.txt?viewmode=default).

Earl Lee Tobed
10-03-2012, 01:09 PM
Thirty years in prison must have already cost the state a shedload of tax dollars just to keep this worthless piece of sh-t alive.The authorities should put him on a crash diet then carry out the lethal injection without further delay.