Kasich spokesman explained that commuting Post’s sentence to life in prison has nothing to do with his lawyers’ argument that he should not be executed because he’s too fat

By IKE MGBATOGU
Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS – For years, Ronald Ray Post and his lawyers sustained their acrobatic legal maneuvers, trying every criminal defense finagle in the vault to spare the life of a convicted vicious murderer. In the end, they succeeded. Last week, Governor John Kasich commuted Post’s death sentence to life in prison.

The hapless victim in that 1983 vitriolic assault was Helen Grace Vantz who was shot to death in an Elyria motel. She was a 53 years old mother of three. And what exactly did Post achieve from that macabre robbery project: a whopping $100 and a black and white TV set.

Since his conviction, his lawyers have been able to keep him away from the death gurney by successfully delaying his execution. They have been able to argue his innocence and casting doubt about his conviction.

During the trial, prosecutors built a case around their claim that Post had freely confessed to being the killer. But afterward, and till now, he denies ever admitting to pulling the trigger, maintaining that he agreed only to being the guy who drove the getaway car used in the commission of the crime.

Post came close to being executed a number of times, but it never happened. But the possibility of executing him someday prompted his lawyers to come up with the proverbial “plan B” in the grand plan to spare his life.

And what’s the ‘Plan B,’ you ask. Some might find it hugely ridiculous and laughable, but it is that he’s too fat to be executed because it would just be too painful and unthinkably cruel plowing through his arms for his veins. Post weighs 480 pounds.

Please keep in mind that this is a guy brutally killed somebody. Somehow, he’s scared of pain and executing him would be “cruel.”

Now, somewhere between his argument that he didn’t kill Vantz and the bold rampart that his life should be spared because he is too fat reside the true reason why Governor Kasich startlingly commuted his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But in doing so, Kasich warned that his “decision should not be viewed by anyone as diminishing this awful crime or the pain it has caused.” The governor said that he grounded his decision on the modicum of doubt that Post was the actual killer based on his lawyers’ defense plea.

Kasich spokesman explained that commuting Post’s sentence to life in prison has nothing to do with his lawyers’ argument that he should not be executed because he’s too fat or that finding his vein in the process of execution would inflict pain on him and there constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

Mgbatogu is a freelance writer and editor of Onumba.com based in Columbus. He can be reached by email at Onumbamedia@yahoo.com