James Edward Smith asked for a lump of dirt to be his last meal (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)The night before he was due to receive a lethal injection, he asked for his last meal to be a lump of rhaeakunda dirt.
While there have been some strange and disturbing last meal requests over the years, like one inmate who asked for a single olive with the pit still in as he hoped that an olive tree would grow out of his corpse, there aren't many requests which get turned down.
However, prison officials would not provide James Edward Smith with a lump of dirt for his last meal, thwarting his plans.
The murderer had been hoping to eat the dirt as part of a voodoo ritual which he believed would help him in an attempt at reincarnation, The Daily Express reports.
And since dirt wasn't on the approved list of foods, the key component of his bizarre ritual was not provided to him.
It wouldn't have ended up being his last meal anyway, as Smith was granted a last minute stay of execution and his lethal injection was rescheduled to take place two years later.
He twice asked for dirt and was twice told no (Getty Stock Photo)Once again Smith had the option of asking for a last meal, and once again he asked for a lump of dirt to perform his ritual.
However, he was yet again denied and settled for a pot of plain yoghurt instead.
He was executed by lethal injection in 1990, with his last words being 'Hare Krishna'.
The practice of offering a last meal in Texas no longer applies after death row inmate Lawrence Russell Brewer, incarcerated for murdering James Byrd Jr. by dragging him behind his truck for three miles, placed a massive order and refused to eat it.
Brewer asked for a a bowl of fried okra with ketchup, two chicken steaks with gravy and onions, a cheese omelette with ground beef, jalapenos and bell peppers, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, three fajitas, one pound of barbecue and a half loaf of white bread, pizza meat lover's special, one pint of 'homemade vanilla' Blue Bell ice cream, one slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts and three root beers.
When he said he wasn't hungry, all the food was thrown away and Texas scrapped the last meal as a result.Featured Image Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Getty Stock Photo
Topics: True Crime, Death Row, Food And Drink, US News
Joe Harker
Published 15:29 17 Sep 2024 GMT+1
Disturbing reason death row prisoner ordered a single olive as his final meal on Earth
Victor Harry Feguer really didn't go overboard with his last ever meal
Olivia Burke
Do you reckon there's some kind of running competition between death row prisoners to request the wackiest final meal they can think of?
Because it certainly seems as though inmates who are slapped with the ultimate punishment are trying to outdo each other with their weird orders, rather than tantalising their tastebuds for one last time.
There's those who order decadent feasts, some who ask for a lump of soil and others who just want to use the food to stick two fingers up to the US justice system before they leave this world, like killer Lawrence Russell Brewer did.
Recreating death row inmate's last meal
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And there's also the likes of Victor Harry Feguer, who opted to get put to death with just a single olive in his stomach.
Obviously, this wasn't because he was watching his waist line, but he did have a method behind his madness.
Feguer was only 28 years old when he was executed by hanging in 1963 for the murder of Dr Edward Bartels.
Three years earlier, he had been flicking through the Yellow Pages when he began to phone up local physicians in Iowa alphabetically before landing on the medic.
The Michigan-born killer told the doctor there was a woman who needed medical attention, so Dr Bartels rushed to him.
But when he arrived, there was no woman.
Feguer kidnapped the physician, 34, and killed him in Illinois, with Dr Bartels' body later being found dumped in a cornfield with a single gunshot to the head.
Victor Harry Feguer, 28, only had a single olive for his last meal (Iowa Police)Authorities arrested Feguer in Alabama a few days later after the FBI received a tip off from a bloke who became suspicious when the killer tried to sell him the doctor's car without any paperwork.
It is believed that his motivation for the murder was to get his hands on drugs which Dr Bartels might have been carrying on him to treat patients.
Feguer protested his innocence and insisted someone else had been responsible for the murder in July 1960, but the 28-year-old was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death.
He lodged an appeal, which was denied, meaning only the President had the power to do anything about his fate.
But even after being contacted by Iowa's governor Harold Hughes and Feguer's attorney, John F. Kennedy didn't budge - and is said to have turned down their pleas because he 'thought the crime was so brutal'.
Anyways, the inmate - who was described as a 'model prisoner' by guards in his final days - was left to face up to the fact he was going to meet his maker, with the only comfort being he got a nice meal beforehand.
There was a reason behind his strange request (Getty Stock Image)But bizarrely, Feguer only asked for a single olive with the pit still in.
As we mentioned earlier, there was a reason he only wanted a small snack before he was executed in Iowa.
Feguer apparently told guards that he hoped an olive tree would grow from his grave, 'as a sign of peace'.
After staying up all night with a priest, he was given a new suit for his execution on 15 March, 1963.
Some reports claim that after Feguer was pronounced dead, officials later found the pit from the olive in one of his suit pockets.
Photographer Henry Hargreaves brought the unusual last meal to life with his collection titled No Seconds.
The snapper recreated a few of the most infamous orders from death row prisoners - and Feguer's was his favourite.
He told CBS News: "It's just such a polarising image.
"We think about last meals, and is it something that's going to be totally gluttonous, and then he just has a single olive.
"You know, it's so simple, beautiful and kind of final. It's like a full stop at the end of his life."Featured Image Credit: Iowa Police/Getty Stock Image
Topics: Food And Drink, Weird, US News, Crime, Death Row
Olivia Burke
Published 15:03 18 May 2024 GMT+1
Death Row inmate made major ‘mistake’ with last meal before being executed
Wesley Ira Purkey made a major error before his 'excruciating' death in 2020
Olivia Burke
Considering it's all they have left to look forward to, you'd think that Death Row inmates would have thought up a foolproof plan to ensure that nothing stands between them and their last meal.
But killer Wesley Ira Purkey managed to make a major mistake when the day came for him to eat his final supper ahead of his execution in 2020.
Recreating death row inmate's last meal
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68-year-old, from Kansas, was sentenced to death twenty years ago for the kidnap, rape and murder of tragic teenager Jennifer Long in January, 1998.
He confessed to the heinous crimes while serving a life sentence for a murder he committed nine months later, as he had beaten pensioner Mary Bales, 80, to death with a claw hammer in October of the same year.
Purkey had lured his 16-year-old victim into his car on 22 January, 1998, in Kansas City, Missouri, before buying booze and taking her across state lines back to his home in Lansing, Kansas.
Concerns were raised for the schoolgirl when she did not attend her lessons.
But horrifically, Jennifer would never be seen again as her abductor had raped her before brutally stabbing her repeatedly in the chest, face and neck as she tried to escape.
The killer then callously stuffed her body inside a toolbox before purchasing an electric chainsaw, which he later used to dismember her body before burning her remains in a fireplace and scattering them in a septic pond in Clearwater, Kansas.
Wesley Ira Purkey was sentenced to death for his crimes (Kansas Department of Corrections)Jennifer's concerned mother reported her daughter missing and police listed her as a runaway - but this is something which her family were never convinced of.
It was only when Purkey confessed to the crimes that her loved ones got answers about what had happened to the teen.
Ahead of his execution four years ago, there were concerns that the killer may have been suffering from dementia and didn't exactly understand what was going to happen.
The way he treated his final meal of pecan pie seemed to be a huge indicator of this.
You see, Purkey had told officials who brought his grub to him that he wanted to save it for 'later' - suggesting he was seemingly unaware that there wouldn't be a 'later' for him.
But despite delays, the Supreme Court gave the green light for the decision to put him to death and on 16 July, 2020, his execution went ahead.
Purkey was given a lethal injection and medical expert Dr Gail Van Norman says that the Death Row inmate likely experienced an 'excruciating' passing, rather than a painless one.
The 68-year-old was executed in 2020 (Kansas Department of Corrections)According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the 68-year-old's autopsy revealed that he had suffered 'severe bilateral acute pulmonary oedema' and 'frothy pulmonary oedema in trachea and main stem bronchi'.
Van Norman said this would cause a near drowning experience that would likely be ‘among the most excruciating feelings known to man', and that the filling of Purkey's lungs could only have happened while he was still alive.
He added: "It is a virtual medical certainty, that most, if not all, prisoners will experience excruciating suffering, including sensations of drowning and suffocation from [the lethal injection drug] pentobarbital."
In his final moments, Purkey appeared to show remorse for his crimes and apologised to Jennifer's family.
Reports claim his last word were: "I deeply regret the pain and suffering I caused to Jennifer's family.
"I am deeply sorry. I deeply regret the pain I caused to my daughter, who I love so very much. This sanitized murder really does not serve no purpose whatsoever."
Jennifer's father, William Long, said of Purkey's execution: "He needed to take his last breath – he took my daughter’s last breath. And there’s some resolve. There is no closure, and there never will be, because I won’t get my daughter back."Featured Image Credit: Kansas Department of Corrections
Topics: Crime, Food And Drink, Mental Health, True Crime, US News, Death Row
Olivia Burke
Updated 07:45 26 Jan 2024 GMTPublished 12:40 16 Nov 2023 GMT
Full death row meal inmate ordered forced laws to be changed
Inmates no longer leave this world with a full belly of their favourite food because of Lawrence Russell Brewer.
Olivia Burke
One death row prisoner managed to spoil the tradition of the infamous final meal privilege in Texas.
Inmates no longer leave this world with a full belly of their favourite food all because of Lawrence Russell Brewer.
Recreating death row inmate's last meal
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Each US state has its own specific rules surrounding the customary ritual, but convicts can pretty much choose whatever they want their last meal will be - within reason.
But the 87-year-old tradition was axed in Texas in September 2011, putting a stop to all special meal requests.
Now, instead of a taste of the outside world, those waiting to be put to death just get whatever is on the prison's menu for the day.
They have Brewer to thank for that - as he managed to rile officials up so much with his last meal that he ruined it for every death row prisoner in the state for the rest of time.
The 44-year-old was a white supremacist murderer who was jailed alongside three other men for horrifically killing James Byrd Jr. by dragging him along behind a pick-up truck for three miles along a road.
Buck Kelly/Getty ImagesBrewer and accomplice John King were the first white men to receive the death penalty for killing a black man in modern Texas, and their atrocities prompted the state to introduce new laws surrounding hate crimes.
Another accomplice, Shawn Berry, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime.
Before Brewer's execution on 21 September, 2011, he was asked what he would like to eat as his last meal.
And he obviously wasn't watching his waist line, so he really took advantage of the ritual.
According to a report from the time published in the Houston Chronicle, Brewer asked for a bowl of fried okra with ketchup, two chicken steaks with gravy and onions, and a cheese omelette with ground beef, jalapenos and bell peppers.
But he didn't stop there.
On top of that, he wanted: "A triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, three fajitas, one pound of barbecue and a half loaf of white bread, pizza meat lover's special, one pint of 'homemade vanilla' Blue Bell ice cream, one slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts and three root beers."
Associated Press/Alamy Stock PhotoBut when the meal - or an approximation of it - was placed in front of him, the killer refused to eat any of it.
Brewer said he was not hungry and the death row feast was chucked in the bin.
Texas senator John Whitmire didn't take the huge waste lightly.
He asked state prison officials to end the nearly 90-year-old tradition of offering a last meal choice to condemned inmates.
As for Brewer, he proved himself a horrible man to the last.
On the day before his execution, even after James Byrd's family had asked for his life to be spared, he told KHOU 11 News: "As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets.
"No, I'd do it all over again, to tell you the truth."Featured Image Credit: YouTube/JoshSlavin / Buck Kelly/Getty Images
Topics: Crime, Food And Drink, Prison, True Crime, US News, Death Row
Olivia Burke
Published 11:57 10 Apr 2024 GMT+1
Huge last meal of death row inmate who had final bid for life denied
Brian Dorsey tucked into one last mammoth meal before being executed in Missouri on 9 April
Danni King
A death row inmate's mammoth final meal has been unveiled after pleas to save his life were denied just hours before he took his final breath.
Brian Dorsey, 52, was put to death by lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, on 9 April, despite his attorney's efforts to spare his life.
Death Row inmate dies by nitrogen gas
Credit: Good Morning Britain
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Brian was sentenced to death in 2008 after being convicted of first degree murder for shooting and killing his cousin and her husband in their home in December 2006.
His lawyers say Brian murdered Sarah and Benjamin while experiencing psychosis induced by crack cocaine and alcohol, which he used to treat chronic depression.
He also claimed he had no memory of committing the crime.
His lawyers had pleaded with the US Supreme Court to stop his execution from going ahead and instead hand him a life-without-parole sentence, claiming he was fully rehabilitated.
A final clemency request was rejected by Governor Mike Parson on 8 April, just one day before his execution, and the US Supreme Court declined Brian's appeals.
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Brian Dorsey was sentenced to death after being convicted for the murder of his cousin and her husband. (Jeremy Weis/AFP via Getty Images)Before being executed on Tuesday, Brain was able to eat a final meal of choice at the prison in Missouri.
Death row inmates are allowed to pick one last dish to enjoy on their final day, with many usually choosing their favourite foods.
According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, Brian's order included all of his favourite foods.
The 52-year-old opted for a greasy array of fast food as his final meal, with it being revealed he consumed two cheeseburgers, chicken strips, two large orders of fries, and a loaded pizza.
Also ahead of his execution, the convicted murderer submitted a written letter in which he expressed guilt for his crimes.
He said: "To all of the family and loved ones I share with Sarah and to all of the surviving family and loved ones of Ben, I am truly, deeply and overwhelmingly sorry.
"Words cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and shame. I still love you. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I am sorry I hurt them and you.
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Brian Dorsey's final statement. (Missouri Department of Corrections)"To my family, friends, and all of those that tried to prevent this, I love you; I am grateful for you. I have peace in my heart in large part because of you and I thank you.
"To all those on ALL sides of this sentence, I carry no ill will or anger, only acceptance and understanding."
Dorsey received the lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, at 6:11 p.m local time. He took several deep breaths followed by a few shallow breaths before dying.
Brian is the first inmate in Missouri to be executed this year after four were put to death in 2023.
