« Previous · Home · Next »
Doomsday Cult Death Row Inmate Too Fat to Execute...
October 19, 2006 12:43 PM
... so he gets a stay of execution. From CNN,
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.
Yes, that's right. He says he's so fat, it would be cruel and unusual punishment to give him the needle. And District Judge Greg Frost--who we have appeared before on numerous occasions, and who used to be smarter than this--actually bought into it. So the execution that was originally set for October 24 is now on hold, indefinitely.
You may be asking, what did Jeffrey Lundgren do that got him on death row in the first place? He ran a doomsday cult, and needed to "prune the vineyard." Apparently, some of his followers weren't buying all of it. So he told the rest of the group that if they wanted to see God, they'd have to kill the errant family of five. Here's what happened next:
On April 10, 1989, Lundgren ordered two of his followers to dig a pit in the barn, in anticipation of burying the Averys' bodies there. Lundgren told the rest of his followers, including the Averys, that they would go on a wilderness trip. A week later, on April 17, 1989, he rented a motel room and had dinner with all of his followers. He then called his group's men into his room, handling them the guns and rilfes with which the murders would be committed. Dennis Avery was not invited to the motel room meeting.
According to followers' admissions, Lundgren later went inside the barn, with a church member named Ron Luff luring Dennis Avery into a place where the other men awaited by asking him for help with equipment for the camping trip. Luff attempted to render Avery unconscious with a stun gun; the stun gun had a mechanical failure. A stun bullet struck Avery but did not knock him out.
Avery then was gagged and dragged to the place where Lundgren awaited. He was shot twice in the chest, dying almost instantly. Luff then told Avery's wife, Cheryl, that her husband needed help. She was gagged, like her husband, but also had duct tape put over her eyes, and dragged to Lundgren. She was shot three times, twice in the breasts and once in the abdomen. Her body lay next to her husband's. The Averys' 15-year-old daughter, Trina, was shot twice in the head. The first shot missed, but the second killed her instantly. Thirteen year old Becky Avery was shot twice and left to die, while six-year-old Karen Avery was shot in the chest and head. Both died.
Terry Lundgren has been on death row for 16 years. Now he is too fat get the death penalty.
When they were busy abolishing hanging in Canada, I remember reading one argument about how inhumane it was, because there were cases of very fat criminals who, instead of having their necks broken by the drop, actually had their heads ripped off completely. So Lundgren would be getting off pretty lightly with a little uncomfortable breathing due to the needle.