COLUMBUS Ohio

The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected arguments that a death row inmate is too fat to die by lethal injection.

Justices on Thursday gave the go-ahead to execute Richard Cooey.

The 41-year-old is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing two University of Akron students in 1986.

He would be the first person to be put to death in the state since the end of a de facto moratorium on lethal injection.

Cooey's attorneys had argued that prison food and limited opportunities to exercise contributed to a weight problem that would make it difficult for the execution team to find a viable vein for lethal injection.

Cooey is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 267 pounds.

An appeal is still pending.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press