The response from the AJC article has been fast and furious. What follows are the first of their last meal's and a few other comments.

AJC (and now DME.COM) Reader's Last Meals

Donna M. from Atlanta, GA (Dec. 2)....One large beef bowl from Yoshinoya, One Ultimate Cheeseburger from Jack-in-the-Box, a pieces of my mom’s fried bread, 2 scoops of World Class Chocolate from Baskin Robbins and a large McDonald’s coke (gotta be McDonald’s).

Preston D. of Florida would like a hot virgin topped with white wine cream sauce! (Ed. Note: This is not exactly the way Preston worded his request).

Jon P. of Dallas, Tex...Three enchiladas - chicken, beef & cheese, A bowl of shrimp & sausage jambalaya, Bacon cheeseburger & Vanilla bean Blue Bell ice cream on peach cobbler

Ummmm.....cobbler......

And a few comments...

Will S. writes...

....Finally, I did not easily find the famous story of the Texas man who asked for his meal to be fed to a homeless person. This should be featured on every site like yours....

We comply...

Robert Madden, Texas (natch), was executed on 5/28/1997 for the murder of two men. He asked that final meal be provided to a homeless person

We were unable to find out if that request was fulfilled.

&

Michael C. asks...

Is mint chocolate chip ice cream really the preferred ice cream of the condemned?

Good questions, Michael...we don't know. What we do know is that the last execution for 2003 is slated for December 18th in Virginia. The next day, the editors of DME.COM will have their first annual "YEAR IN DEATH REVIEW...2003". This will be a .pdf file listing the last meals and last words of all of 2003's condemned. There will also be a state-by-state breakdown (for 2003 and since 1976), a look at the execution methods (so far in '03--61 lethal injections, 1 electric chair) and a breakdown of the food and beverages by category, i.e. most popular soft drink (looks like Coke and Dr. Pepper are neck-and-neck!). So, gentle readers, make sure you have the Abode Acrobat Reader and circle Dec. 19 on your calendar.