Jackson Free Press

In this AP piece, the cult leader Jeffrey Lunden asks for a stay of execution because he's too fat.

Here's his main case:

A federal judge on Tuesday delayed next week's execution of cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren to allow him to join a lawsuit by five other death row inmates challenging the state's use of lethal injection.

In his request to join the lawsuit, Lundgren, 56, said he is at even greater risk of experiencing pain and suffering during the procedure than other inmates because he is overweight and diabetic.

Similar lawsuits filed in several states have led to the halting of executions in Missouri, Delaware and New Jersey.

Opponents have argued that the use of the lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and painful and that the procedure is often carried out without specifically trained medical personnel present.

But Ohio's method of lethal injection came under national scrutiny by death penalty opponents in May after problems slowed the execution of another inmate who was a former intravenous drug user and the vein the execution team chose collapsed as the chemicals started flowing.

Now, Jeffrey Lundren was originally placed on death row for killing an entire family that were members of his "cult". This was after he began teaching an uber conservative splinter group of the LDS. (The Ladder Day Saints/Mormons)

He was considering a modern day prophet to most of his followers.

While continuing abusing his wife and children, once requiring her to have emergency surgery, he also recruited young families to come live with him and hand over all their money in the process. One of the families eventually angered him enough where he took them, and there three small children, taped their feet and hands, and then threw them in a pit after shooting them several times in the back. This included a six year old.

I'm pretty okay with his death being painful. In fact, I'm perfectly okay with that.

I'm just SORRY that he's gotten SO fat in jail that he feels he can't be killed correctly.

Someone please give me a rational explanation for this. Or irrational...either one.

Previous Comments

ID

107910

Comment

I just don't believe this man thought up this theory on his own. It sounds to me like he has some very creative defense attorneys.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-10-21T22:48:45-06:00

ID

107911

Comment

I suppose this is what happens when creative defense attorneys chew the fat.

Author

Ex

Date

2006-10-23T00:43:21-06:00

ID

107912

Comment

I suppose this is what happens when creative defense attorneys chew the fat. Hilarious. Just hilarious. :-D

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-10-23T22:00:18-06:00

ID

107913

Comment

Thanks :-). By the way, Lundgren was executed today, so I guess explanations are now moot.

Author

Ex

Date

2006-10-24T13:53:46-06:00

ID

107914

Comment

I still refuse to waste any of my time on those lethal injections challenges. I'm too much of a realist for this.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2006-10-24T14:44:41-06:00

ID

107915

Comment

Hey Ex and Ray, can you imagine if this guy was able to convince a judge to take him off death row? Would the crime rate increase dramatically among morbidly obese people with diabetes? I'm sitting on the fence when it comes to capital punishment, so I don't even know why I'm thinking about this...just asking. The article from Ex has a scary quote from Lundgren: "It's not a figment of my imagination that I can in fact talk to God, that I can hear his voice," he had told the jurors. "I am a prophet of God. I am even more than a prophet." Since what he said does not line up with what he did, I wonder if he had schizophrenia and was delusional. If so, I think it would have been easier for him to plead insanity from the beginning. Does anyone know what his plea was?

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-10-25T10:09:03-06:00

ID

107916

Comment

LW-- I've been away at a conference and just noticed your note. I've not seen anything about what Lundgren's plea was (CourtTV has a very lengthy article, but doesn't mention a plea, which I would guess would be a plea of not guilty, but I'm not sure), but I've not researched it thoroughly yet. I don't know if there are relevant newspaper articles available in some online databases because of the time period of the killings and the trial. I'll get back to you in a few days unless, of course, Ray answers your question in the meantime.

Author

Ex

Date

2006-10-27T20:28:11-06:00

ID

107917

Comment

Tkae your time, Ex. I'm not writing a term paper or anything. :-)

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-10-27T23:17:45-06:00

ID

107918

Comment

Tkae = take. I need to take my time, too.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-10-27T23:25:46-06:00

ID

107919

Comment

LW-- Here are excerpts from some news stories. I don't believe you can access these articles because they require IP recognition, so I won't provide links to the urls. Anyway, according to the articles, Lundgren entered a plea of not guilty. From the January 10, 1990 edition of the San Jose Mercury News... Cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren, 39, his wife, Alice, 38, and their son, Damon, 19, pleaded innocent in San Diego Tuesday to Ohio complaints, triggering formal extradition proceedings that could take at least 90 days. April 10, 1990 edition of the San Jose Mercury News... A judge today ordered three people, including a reputed cult leader, returned to Ohio to face charges in the slaying of a five-member family. Municipal Court Judge Terry J. Knoepp ordered the extradition for reputed cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren and two followers, Kathryn Johnson and Daniel Kraft. April 17, 1990 edition of the Dallas Morning News... In Painesville, Ohio, Jeffrey Lundgren pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping charges in the execution-style shooting deaths of a couple and their three children who belonged to his cult. . . .

Author

Ex

Date

2006-10-30T18:25:24-06:00

ID

107920

Comment

If his plea was not guilty, this guy may have had a bad case of narcissism. Sounds like he thought he could get away with - excuse the pun - murder.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-10-30T21:25:59-06:00

ID

107921

Comment

Amazing how those who have so little respect for the lives of others hold onto their own so fiercely. There's a special room in Hell for that guy.

Author

JeffK

Date

2006-12-06T17:20:21-06:00