Have you ever been posed with the intriguing question of what your last meal on death row would be? Personally, my choice would be an authentic, Italian-style pizza accompanied by a few glasses of rosé wine, capped off with some affogato.
In reality, inmates on death row are often granted the opportunity to select a final meal before facing execution.
For instance, just last week, Richard Kenneth Djerf was executed in Arizona. His chosen last meal consisted of a double cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato, onion rings with ketchup, and a slice of cherry pie topped with whipped cream. He was executed via lethal injection on October 17.
However, the practice of selecting a last meal has been abolished in Texas due to the actions of one particular inmate, Lawrence Russell Brewer.
Brewer was executed in 2011, and the night before his execution, he ordered an extravagant feast. His request included two chicken-fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, three fajitas, a meat lover’s pizza, a pint of ice cream, and peanut butter fudge. Despite this elaborate order, Brewer did not eat any of it. This prompted Brad Livingston, then executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, to revoke the privilege entirely. Livingston remarked, “It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. It’s a privilege which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim.”
Ted Bundy, before his execution in 1989, made an unusual request for someone on death row—he asked for nothing. As a result, Bundy was served a standard last meal of steak, eggs, hash browns, and toast. Although he did not express any specific wishes for a final meal, Bundy did request that his ashes be scattered in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state, according to Biography.com. This was the area where the remains of his last four victims were discovered.
In another case, Nelson, convicted alongside his brother Steven Shelton for the 1992 murder following an extended drinking binge, had an unusual request. Before his execution, Nelson asked to donate a kidney to his ailing mother, but he was not a compatible match. Instead, it was Steven who eventually donated a kidney to their mother.
Ronnie Lee Gardner, executed by firing squad in Utah in 2010 after being found guilty of a 1985 murder, had a unique final request. Rather than spending his last day with loved ones, Gardner chose to watch The Lord of The Rings trilogy, a marathon lasting over nine hours, as reported by Metro.
Serial killer Aileen Wuornos, similar to Bundy, showed little interest in her last meal. She focused more on her posthumous wishes. Wuornos wanted her ashes to be spread beneath a tree in Michigan, with Natalie Merchant’s song “Carnival” playing at her memorial. Her adoptive mother, Arlene Pralle, fulfilled these wishes. Wuornos was adopted by Pralle, who was 44 at the time, when Wuornos was in her 30s in 1991.