An Inclusive Litany

10/10/94

Sentenced to be hanged for murdering two bank tellers during a robbery, Washington state death-row inmate Mitchell Rupe told the court that the state shouldn't hang him because he is too fat. The inmate claimed that because of his 409-pound weight, it was possible that he would be decapitated in the process, thus violating the constitutional ban against "cruel and unusual punishment." Although Washington state law permits the alternative of lethal injection, Rupe said he didn't like that form of execution because it is "morally repugnant."