final credits - mitchell rupe
In 1981, Rupe shot two Washington state bank tellers to death at point-blank range during a robbery. Juries twice sentenced him to death, but higher courts overturned the rulings.
In 1994, a federal judge upheld his conviction but agreed with Rupe's contention that at more than 400 pounds, he was too obese to hang because of the risk of decapitation.
Rupe argued that the sentence would amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Reports suggest Rupe ate his way up to 400 lbs while he was in prison just so he could claim he was too fat to hang.
Prosecutors tried for the death penalty a third time in 2000, but a jury deadlocked at 11-1 -- failing the unanimous vote required for capital punishment in Washington state. One of the 12 jurors opposed the death penalty on religious grounds. Rupe was suffering from a terminal liver disease, and there was doubt at that time whether he would have lived long enough to be executed even if the jury had been unanimous.
Rupe died in the Washington State Penitentiary hospital in Walla Walla, where he'd been since January 3rd in the final stages of liver disease. Rupe also suffered from hepatitis-C and testicular cancer. A Walla Walla County coroner estimated that Rupe weighed between 260 and 270 pounds at the time of his death.
Rupe died February 7th, 2006 at the age of 51 from liver disease.
Other odd death stories can be found here.