In his appeal, he said that two aspects of prison life — overeating and lack of exercise — made him too hefty for lethal injection. Finding a vein would be nearly impossible through the extra layers of flesh on his 5 foot 7, 267-pound frame.

At her December 1944 trial for murder, Joan Kiger’s attorneys said she could not be held responsible for her actions because she was asleep when she pulled the trigger. The case became known as the “Nightmare Murders.”

Newspapers called him the “cultured bandit” and dwelled on his looks and manners.