Strangest Last Meals Requested by Death Row Inmates
Before execution, many death row inmates are offered a final meal. The requests range from ordinary to deeply unusual, and in some cases, the meal is declined entirely. This list looks at ten of the strangest last meal requests, based on documented cases.
Timothy McVeigh
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The Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, asked for two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Prison officials allowed the request, though it was served the night before his execution rather than immediately beforehand. He ate the ice cream alone in his cell without witnesses.
Victor Feguer
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Kidnapping and murdering physician Edward Bartles led to a federal death sentence carried out in Iowa in 1963. As his last meal, Victor Feguer requested a single olive with the pit still inside. The prison granted the request exactly as written. He ate the olive before being executed by hanging in Iowa. Officials later found the pit in his pocket during the burial, which confirmed he kept it rather than swallowing it.
Velma Barfield
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Velma Barfield became the first woman executed by lethal injection after capital punishment resumed in the United States. She requested a bag of Cheez-Doodles and a can of Coca-Cola, which prison staff fulfilled without modification. Poisoning boyfriends, relatives, and acquaintances with arsenic defined the crimes that put this North Carolina grandmother on death row.
James Edward Smith
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James Edward Smith was sentenced to death in Texas for a robbery-related murder. As his execution approached in 1990, he made an unusual last-meal request: a clump of dirt. Prison officials denied the request because it did not qualify as food under state rules. Instead, Smith was served yogurt before his execution, which proceeded following his conviction and sentencing under the Texas capital murder law.
Gary Carl Simmons Jr.
Credit: Reuters
Gary Carl Simmons Jr. requested an enormous final meal that included pizza, fries, milkshakes, and ice cream, totaling roughly 29,000 calories. Prison staff served the full order, but Simmons ate very little of it before his execution. He had been sentenced to death in Texas for the violent murder of Jeffery Wolfe, a crime tied to drug-related debts.
Phillip Workman
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A restaurant robbery in 1981 ended with Officer Wayne Norton being shot dead in Tennessee. The crime was committed by Phillip Workman, who asked that his vegetarian pizza be given to a homeless person instead. Prison officials refused, but supporters delivered hundreds of pizzas statewide after his execution in 2007.
Gerald Lee Mitchell
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Gerald Lee Mitchell was sentenced to death for the murder of a convenience store clerk, Eddie Allen, during a robbery. Instead of requesting a full last meal, Mitchell asked only for Jolly Ranchers, which prison officials approved. He was executed by lethal injection in 2011 after years of state and federal appeals challenging his conviction and sentence.
Peter J. Miniel
Credit: X
Peter J. Miniel made one of the largest last-meal requests on record. Prison officials approved the order, which included tacos, burgers, pizza, fried chicken, cakes, ice cream, soda, and juice. Miniel was on death row in Ohio after being convicted of murdering a young woman under state law.
Lawrence Russell Brewer
Credit: NBC News
Texas officials cooked everything Lawrence Russell Brewer asked for, then watched it go untouched. The crime involved the racially motivated killing of James Byrd Jr., who was chained to a truck and dragged to death. His order included chicken-fried steak, barbecue, pizza, ice cream, and sides. The refusal angered the public, and Texas eliminated last-meal requests after the execution statewide.
Ronnie Lee Gardner
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Ronnie Lee Gardner requested steak, lobster tail, apple pie, and permission to watch The Lord of the Rings before his execution. Prison officials approved all of his requests. Gardner was executed by firing squad in Utah in 2010 after decades on death row. He had been sentenced for a deadly courtroom escape attempt that resulted in the killing of attorney Michael Burdell.