It seems that a certain death row inmate has found a novel way to beat the rap.  Gain 200 pounds! Mitchell Rupe was sentenced to death for killing 2 people in a bank Robbery.  But the Washington State Supreme court sided with is lawyers when they argued that hanging him (the only method of execution in the state at the time) would result in decapitation, and was thus cruel and unusual punishment.

Washington has since added lethal injection to its repetoire of methods to execute death row inmates, but before the state could do anything with Rupe, he pulled a fast one.

He died!  So convicts beware.  You might be able to cheat the hangman, but doing so will probably cost you your life.