Warning: This article discusses rape and murder, which some readers may find distressing.
A death row inmate executed earlier this month was denied a last meal due to another prisoner’s actions.
Texas death row inmate Arthur Lee Burton received the death penalty for strangling a woman to death with her own shoelaces.
On July 29, 1997, 48-year-old Nancy Adleman was jogging in Houston, Texas, when she was attacked by Burton.
Burton then ‘forced’ her into a nearby wooded area and ‘attempted to rape her,’ according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The then-27-year-old strangled the mother-of-three with her own shoelace and fled the scene.
He later confessed to the killing, as reported by CBS News, saying: “She asked me why was I doing it and that I didn’t have to do it.”
However, the Independent reports that he later recanted his confession during his trial.
Burton was ultimately convicted of Nancy’s murder in 1998 and sentenced to death.
He spent the next 26 years on Texas death row. Despite his lawyers arguing that he had an intellectual disability—and the Supreme Court banning the execution of intellectually disabled individuals in 2002—Burton’s appeal was rejected by the US Supreme Court. He was executed at the age of 54 earlier this month, on August 7.
Although many death row inmates are allowed to request a final meal before execution, Burton was not granted this option due to the actions of a previous inmate.
Until 2011, Texas death row inmates could request a final meal before their execution.
However, in that year, Lawrence Russell Brewer—a white supremacist involved in the lynching of James Byrd Jr—requested an extremely extravagant final meal before his execution.
Brewer’s request included two chicken-fried steaks with sliced onions and gravy, a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, and jalapeños.
Additionally, The New York Times reports that he also asked for three fajitas, a bowl of fried okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecued meat with half a loaf of white bread, and a meaty pizza.
If that was not enough, he also demanded peanut-butter fudge, a pint of ice cream, and three root beers to complete his meal.
The real question is, how did he even start to eat it all?
When the meal was served, Brewer reportedly did not eat any of it.
State Senator and chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee John Whitmire expressed his outrage, questioning: “He never gave his victim an opportunity for a last meal. Why in the world are you going to treat him like a celebrity two hours before you execute him?
“It’s wrong to treat a vicious murderer in this fashion. Let him eat the same meal on the chow line as the others.”
The fact that Brewer did not eat any part of the meal added further insult, leading to the resolution that no Texas death row inmate would be allowed to request a last meal again.