COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio inmate scheduled to be executed next month says he participated in a crime that led to the deaths of two college students but denies he was the one who beat them to death.

Richard Cooey says he committed kidnapping, robbery and other crimes leading to the slaying of the University of Akron students 20 years ago but an accomplice committed the murders.

Cooey says in a death row interview given to the state legislative reporters’ association that both prosecutors and his public defenders have refused to investigate his claims.

Cooey has made similar statements for years.

Cooey has been on death row since 1986. He’s filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop his Oct. 14 execution on the grounds that he is too fat to be executed humanely because his weight makes it difficult to access his veins.

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