Our faithful readers already know that Florida serves up one of the best last meals in the country. The state allows a generous $40 spending limit, and the only rule is that the ingredients for the meal must be available at local stores. Steak is allowed. The same with lobster. Appetizers, salad, desserts? No problem. Prison chefs do the shopping then lovingly craft a tasty, succulent last meal for the condemned prisoner. But every once in a while, one of the death row inmates says "thanks but no thanks." Such was the case today before William Van Poyck was executed.
Van Poyck--which is pronounced "Van Poyk," according to countless news reports--so thanks for clearing that up--was convicted as the mastermind of a failed plot to free another inmate who was being transported in a prison van. One of the guards was killed, but Van Poyck always denied pulling the trigger himself and blamed the guard's death on his accomplice.
His final words were "set me free."
Sometimes "good" and "bad" are subjective terms. For proof, just look at the last words of Elroy Chester, executed tonight by the state of Texas.
Chester confessed to five killings but was executed for the murder of a fireman which took place during a six-month crime spree that involved rapes, robberies, and multiple homicides. In his last statement, however, Chester announced "Elroy Chester wasn't a bad man. I don't care what anybody says." he then told the execution witnesses, "I'll see you later."
Since Texas did away with special last meal requests in 2011, Chester was served the same food as everyone else in his prison unit. His last meal included baked pork chops, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans.
Executions are normally a dreary business, but there was a "sunny side" to today's execution of Elmer Leon Carroll by the state of Florida. Two, actually. The first came when Carroll ordered his last meal; sunny-side-up eggs, bacon, sliced tomatoes, biscuits, avocados, a
fruit salad of strawberries, papaya, peaches, and pineapple, and with canned
milk to drink. The second "sunny moment" came when this barbaric child killer was finally removed from the earth.
Carroll was apparently a troublemaker to the end, and not even prison confinement could dampen his penchant for misbehaving. Over his 21 years on death row, Carroll was written up by prison officials 20 times for infractions ranging from making threats to attempted arson.
Jeffrey Williams was executed by the state of Texas tonight for killing a Houston police officer in 1999.
Back in 2011, Texas did away with special last meals for its condemned inmates. The men and women on death row are now served the same food as everyone else in their prison unit prior to their execution. For his last meal, Jeffrey Williams was served baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, great northern beans, apple crisp, and punch, tea, and water to drink.
For his last words, Williams called the police "clowns" and accused them of murdering innocent children. "Y'all are getting away with murder all the time," he said. "When I kill one or pop one, y'all want to kill me." Williams finished by adding "I love everyone that loves me. I ain't got no love for anyone that don't love me."
On a day when fellow death row inmate Willie Manning won a last-minute appeal right before his lethal injection, Carroll Joe Parr wasn't so lucky. Parr was executed by the state of Texas for shooting a man to death and robbing him of $2500--money that Parr himself gave the man a few hours earlier when he bought 7 pounds of marijuana from him.
Parr seemed upbeat as he spoke his last words before the execution. "I am in the midst of truth. I am good, I am straight, don't trip" he told witnesses. "To all my partners, tell them I said like Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'I'll be back.' These eyes will close, but they will be opened again."
Since Texas did away with special last meals in 2011, Parr was served the same food as everyone else in his unit. His last meal was chicken patties with gravy, macaroni and cheese, carrots, pinto beans, sliced bread, with punch, tea, and water to drink.
While every death row inmate is reprehensible in their own way, some qualify as the "worst of the worst." Even that category doesn't do justice to Steven Smith, however, who was executed by the state of Ohio this morning. Perhaps "worst of the worst of the worst" would be more accurate.
It seemed totally fitting, then, that a man who committed such a sickening crime would also order a stomach-churning last meal. Smith asked for a pizza with pepperoni, sausage, and ham, fried fish, chocolate ice cream, and Mountain Dew. On their own, each of these items is fine. But mix them all together in a stomach that's already churning from pre-execution stress, and you've got a serious case of nausea just waiting to happen.
