Obese inmate asks to be spared

COLUMBUS, OhiO — A condemned obese killer should be spared because of lingering doubts about his “legal and moral guilt” and the conduct of defense and prosecution lawyers at trial, his attorneys told the state Parole Board on Thursday in a bid for clemency focusing on his innocence, not his weight.

Death row inmate Ronald Post is fighting his January execution on the grounds that he is so fat he can’t be humanely executed and will suffer cruel and unusual punishment.

That argument is in the federal courts, while the 450-pound Post pursues an innocence claim unrelated to his weight before the parole board. The panel considers requests for mercy before making a recommendation to Gov. John Kasich, who has the final say.

Post, 53, was sentenced to die for the 1983 shooting of Elyria motel clerk Helen Vantz during a robbery.

The presumption that Post confessed to the murder to several people has been falsely exaggerated, Post’s attorneys argue.