The final meal request for Adremy Dennis, Ohio, October 13, 2004.

Dennis requested a last meal of fried catfish, lasagna with meat sauce, garlic bread, sweet potato pie, pecan pie and pumpkin pie, all with whipped cream, as well as vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

The final meal request for Donald Loren Aldrich, Texas, October 12, 2004.

Aldrich requested a last meal of Chef salad with French/Ranch dressing, fried chicken breasts and legs, french fries, a cheeseburger, chocolate cake, deviled eggs, and biscuits with gravy.

NORTH CAROLINA LAST MEAL
SAMMY CRYSTAL PERKINS
October 8, 2004

...these are the ones that keep you up at night....

Last Meal: Two fried chicken breasts, two fried chicken wings, sweet potato pie, a large order of French fries from McDonald's, a 20 ounce Coke and a cup of ice.

The skinny: Perkins was executed for the 1992 rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl.

More skinny: Perkins was living with his mother in Greenville, and went to the home of a woman he had been dating. She lived in the house with her two children and four grandchildren, one of whom was the 7 year old victim.

At approximately 3:00 am, Perkins entered the woman’s bedroom, where she and her two grandchildren were sleeping. Perkins watched a pornographic video and then tried to have sex with the woman. She ordered Perkins out of the house. The woman then went to sleep.

She awoke at around 9:00 am, and while the family was preparing to go to church for Easter services, the woman discovered that the girl was dead.

The evidence tended to show that sometime early that morning, Perkins had mounted the victim, held a pillow over her face, and had sex with her. At trial, Perkins testified that he had been drinking and smoking crack cocaine. He stated that the girl awoke while he was having sex with her grandmother. He put a pillow over her face so that she would not see them. He said that he administered CPR, which he thought was successful in resuscitating her.

Priors: Perkins admitted that he had a prior conviction for attempted rape in 1981 and was released from prison in 1986. He also had prior convictions for possession with intent to sell and deliver heroin and cocaine in 1988 and 1989.

Last words and such: "I would like to say I love my mother, all my brothers and sisters and all my children. I'll see ya'll on the other side."

Factoids: Perkins was the...

48th murderer executed in U.S. in 2004
933rd murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
2nd murderer executed in North Carolina in 2004
32nd murderer executed in North Carolina since 1976

TEXAS LAST MEAL
PETER J. MINIEL
October 6, 2004

..."Left Behind"...

Last Meal: 20 beef tacos, 20 beef enchiladas, two double cheeseburgers, a pizza with jalapenos, fried chicken, spaghetti with salt, half of a chocolate cake and half of a vanilla cake, cookies and cream ice cream, carmel pecan fudge ice cream, a small fruit cake, two Coca-Colas, two Pepsi-Colas, two root beers and two orange juices.

The skinny: Miniel, 42, was executed for the beating and stabbing death of a Houston man, 18 years ago.

Miniel has confessed to the crime, in which he and a co-defendant attacked the victim, striking him in the head with a heavy glass beer mug, stabbing him 39 times in the neck and back and beating him about the head with an automobile shock absorber. The two made off after the murder with a stereo system and $20. They then went to eat at a Burger King.

Miniel had welcomed the execution and asked his attorney to file no more appeals. "I'm ready for them to get me," Miniel said in a recent interview. "I'm ready to pay the price."

<>Miniel pleaded not guilty at his 1988 trial, while his partner pleaded guilty and testified against him in exchange for a 50-year sentence. The jury convicted Miniel of murder after five minutes' deliberation. Miniel has told Texas newspapers in recent weeks that he lied at his trial and is guilty of the murder. <>

Leading up to...In the weeks leading up to his execution, Miniel completed the Christian book series "Left Behind." He asked that the state take care of his body after his execution, as not to burden his family.

Last words and such: "Into your hands, O Lord, I commence my spirit. Amen. I'm ready." As the drugs began taking effect, he said he felt a burning sensation.

Factoids: Miniel was the...

47th murderer executed in U.S. in 2004
932nd murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
15th murderer executed in Texas in 2004
328th murderer executed in Texas since 1976

TEXAS LAST MEAL
EDWARD GREEN III
OCTOBER 5, 2004

...Peanut...

Last Meal: Two chicken fried steaks, fried chicken strips, fried shrimp, curly fries, a half-gallon of grape juice, a pint of carmel pecan fudge, ketchup and a pack of bubble gum.

The skinny: Green, 30, was executed for killing an elderly Houston couple in a 1992 robbery.

The execution came after a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court failed and just days after lawmakers proposed a halt in executions in the area owing to problems with the examination of evidence by the Houston Police Department.

Harris County, of which Houston is the greater part, sentences more people to death than any other county in the United States. It currently has 162 inmates on Texas death row. At least one person has been freed and 40 other convictions are under scrutiny because of the police department's poor work. The late appeal delayed Green's execution for two hours.

More skinny: Green, known on the street as "Peanut," said he was high after smoking marijuana and embalming fluid when he and a friend confronted a car that had pulled up to a stop sign. Green spotted the couple in a car at a Houston street intersection and decided to rob them because they looked as if they had money. Green pointed a .357 revolver at the man, who was driving, and demanded he get out the vehicle. When the man laughed and attempted to shift the car into reverse, Green fired three shots, hitting him in the head and chest and the woman in an arm and the abdomen.

Green was later arrested for an unrelated crime and after a Crimestoppers tip, was interviewed by police about the murder. After initially denying involvement, Green gave a complete confession.

Green was no stranger to authorities. He had been expelled from school, wound up at a juvenile camp after a rape accusation and was tied to numerous car thefts.

Final words and such: "To the ..... families, I do not come here with the intention to make myself out to be a person I am not. I never claimed to be the best person. I'm not the best father, I'm not the best son or the best friend in the world. To my family and to you people, I can only apologize for the pain I have caused you. May God forgive us on this day. I'm ready when you are."

Green's mother sobbed uncontrollably as she watched her son die. She collapsed and had to be assisted from the room. A second witness was placed in a wheelchair briefly.

Outside the red-brick walls of the Huntsville prison, about 50 anti-death penalty activists held signs decrying Green's execution. One man, David Atwood, of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said he was starting a bread-and-water fast to protest the upcoming series of executions.

A DME.COM FIRST...Green and a corrections officer became romantically involved and had a daughter, now 5. The woman resigned rather than be fired, and she married Green by proxy.

Factoids: Green was the....

46th murderer executed in U.S. in 2004
931st murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
14th murderer executed in Texas in 2004
327th murderer executed in Texas since 1976

POETRY BY EDWARD GREEN III

WHO AM I ?........

Sometimes I try too hard
thinking that competing with self will reward
my heart with the foundation of knowledge
that only the depths of my soul can acknowledge.
This is why my determination decision
seems to appear more and more like a mission
allowing my growth and development to be something scholastic
while the balance of my life is man made, afraid and drastic,
There is no one but myself to blame
because throughout all the pleasures, I've searched for the pain.
that can bring me gravely closer to only knowing myself
while others wish to know nothing about me...but the means for my death.

ALABAMA LAST MEAL
DAVID KEVIN HOCKER
September 30, 2004

...dumping bodies in Headland...

Last Meal: Hooker requested a last meal of frankfurters, french fries, American cheese, mustard and chocolate cake with chocolate icing, but he refused to eat when the meal was presented to him.

The skinny: Hocker, 33, was put to death for the 1998 stabbing death of his boss. He refused to file appeals of his conviction, saying he was guilty and wanted to die for his crime.

More skinny: Hocker was living in a motel and did not have a car, and asked his boss to drive him to run an errand. Hocker stabbed and beat the man to death with a knife and dumped the body. He used the victim's bank card to get cash to purchase $400 worth of crack cocaine and later turned himself in at the Mobile County Sheriff's Department. Following the arrest, Hocker led investigators to the body in a wooded area in Headland.

Death row convert: Hocker's sister said that her brother was looking forward to dying. She said he had adopted a form of Christianity that's led him to believe he'll be a leader in the afterlife. She said this belief led her brother to castrate himself in his death-row cell to control sexual urges.

Leading up to...Hocker left his mother and stepfather assorted food items and a check for 87 cents, the amount of money he had left in an account prisoners use to buy snacks and other items. Hocker also gave a radio and headset and food items to death row inmate Rayford Hagood.

Last words and such: <>"I swear by you, Lord Jesus Christ my savior that my time should be no longer. The mystery of life shall be finished. Amen," Hocker said when Holman prison warden Grantt Culliver asked if he had any final words.

Aftermath: Hocker's mother did not talk to reporters after the execution, but released a statement saying her son had found peace on death row after a troubled life of mental problems and drug abuse. "Once Kevin started reading the Bible his anger just disappeared. He became positive about his life."

Factoids: Hocker was the sixth Alabama inmate executed since the state switched its primary method of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection in 2002.

Hocker was the....

45th murderer executed in U.S. in 2004
930th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
2nd murderer executed in Alabama in 2004
30th murderer executed in Alabama since 1976

The final meal request for Sammy Crystal Perkins, North Carolina, October 8, 2004.

Perkins requested a last meal of two fried chicken breasts, two fried chicken wings, sweet potato pie, a large order of french fries from McDonald's, a 20 ounce coke and a cup of ice.

The final meal request for Peter J.Miniel, Texas, October 6, 2004.

Miniel requested a last meal of 20 beef tacos with cheese and jalapenos, 20 beef enchiladas with cheese, two double cheeseburgers with onions, a pizza with jalapenos and salt on the side, 1/2 chocolate cake, 1/2 vanilla cake, 4 pints of ice cream (cookies and cream, carmel pecan fudge), a small fruit cake, fried chicken with some spaghetti and salt, two cokes, two orange juices, two root beers and two pepsi's.