Reader's Meal...Octoberfest version....

A Burger King double whopper with cheese, extra mayo (just this once) and large fries. A large extra cheese, extra pepperoni pizza. A six-pack of ice cold Corona and, for dessert, a fat Cohiba cigar and a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Dave S.
Harrisburg, PA

Erik H. L.
Anything that would make me vomit, so that they would have to move the execution!

2 steamed Maine lobsters (Big ones)
5 lbs. King Crab
2 cups drawn butter
12 oz. New York Strip
2 large baked potatoes w\sour cream, butter, sautéed mushrooms
A big salad with everything except onions
1 whole key lime pie (made by my girlfriend)
4 big ears roasted corn
3 slices Texas toast
1 pitcher sweet iced tea
1 pitcher ice water
1 cigar (at least a $10 one)
Patrick B. from Alabama

I have changed my mind and decided upon the following for my last meal:

Tongue burning hot chicken Pad Thai with extra peanuts, sprouts, and green onions

Hot and sour soup

2 spring rolls with hot mustard sauce

eggplant the way it's made at Club Med

Cracked conch

Conch fritters

Bazooka Joe bubble gum

Cohiba cigars

And a nice Merlot! I don't think that's asking too much!
LexLaw

Me being the glutton that I am, my last meal would
likely change daily, but here goes for one:

Three bacon, spinach and onion crepes, six slices of
rye bread with butter and sausage gravy, An order of
fried clams and steak fries from L.J. Silver's with
Utah style fry sauce, 12 KFC biscuits with butter
packets for each one, three orders of mashed potatoes
and gravy from KFC, and an extra large buffalo chicken
pizza with pineapple.

To drink, 4 two litre bottles of orange seltzer.

For desert, three orange custard style Yoplait
yogurts, three navel oranges, and a pound of jelly
nougats.

Harald
Allison Park, PA, USA

Tiffany-S. Detroit Michigan corona with lime thats it

INDIANA LAST MEAL
ALAN LEHMAN MATHENEY
September 28, 2005

...prison officials do not want inmates to consume too much the day of the execution ...

Last Meal: For his special meal he had chicken wings, a fried chicken dinner, large wedges of potatoes, corn on the cob, biscuits and a chocolate shake. The special dinner is prepared at a local restaurant. It is not called the last meal since it is served a day or two ahead of time. That's because prison officials do not want inmates to consume too much the day of the execution, much like a doctor asks patients not to eat before surgery.

The skinny: Matheney, 54, one of the most notorious killers on Indiana's Death Row, was executed by lethal injection for beating murder his ex-wife with a rifle butt while on an eight-hour furlough from the Correctional Industrial Facility. Matheney burst into the victim's home, caught her as she tried to run away and struck her in the head with a rifle so hard the weapon broke.

More skinny: Matheny was convicted and sent to prison in 1987 for Battery and Confinement of his ex-wife,. While in prison, Matheny had repeatedly expressed a desire to kill her, and attempted to solicit others to do so. After serving almost 2 years, he was given an 8-hour furlogh from Pendleton, where he was an inmate. Although the pass authorized a trip to Indianapolis, Matheny headed straight for St. Joseph County. Once there, he changed clothes and took a shotgun from a friend's house, then drove to Mishawaka. He parked the car in a lot two doors down from his ex-wife's house, then broke in through the back door. Bianco ran from the home, pursued by Matheny through the neighborhood. When he caught her, he beat her with the shotgun that broke into pieces. He then got into his car and drove away. The woman died as a result of this blunt force trauma.

One neighbor confronted Matheney and saw him get into a car and drive away. Matheney surrendered to a policeman later that afternoon.

This case generated massive amounts of publicity and led to state legislation requiring the Indiana DOC to notify victims of release from prison

The state also agreed to pay $900,000 to the woman's estate and the couple's children, who were home at the time of the attack.

Last words and such: "I love my family and my children. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused them. I thank my friends who stood by me . . . I'm sure my grandchildren will grow up happy and healthy in the care of their wonderful parents," Matheney said in a final statement read by his lawyer, Steven Schutte

Factoids: Matheney was the...

41st murderer executed in U.S. in 2005
985th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
5th murderer executed in Indiana in 2005
16th murderer executed in Indiana since 1976

Minutes before the execution took place, seven people stood outside the governor's residence with signs protesting the execution. "I call it the murder penalty," said Jennifer Cobb, 47. "I believe the state taking a life because that person took a life makes the state a hypocrite."

Last month, the governor spared the life of Arthur P. Baird II, who was diagnosed as severely mentally ill. In his order, Daniels noted Baird’s claim that he was mentally ill but emphasized that life without parole was not an option at the time of Baird’s sentencing and all jurors whose views were known had indicated they would have chosen that alternative if it was available. Daniels commuted the sentence to life without parole.

It was Indiana's fifth execution this year, the most since 1938 when the state put eight people to death.

OHIO LAST MEAL
HERMAN DALE ASHWORTH
September 27, 2005

...his white Adidas hightops hanging off the gurney's edge...

Last Meal: Ashworth all of his special meal about 4 p.m. Monday. He ate two cheeseburgers with lettuce and mayonnaise and french fries with ketchup, and drank one Dr. Pepper and one Mountain Dew. He refused breakfast offered to all inmates on Tuesday morning.

The skinny: Ashworth, who said he deserved to die was executed by lethal injection Tuesday for luring a man into an alley in 1996 and beating him to death for $40.

More skinny: Ashworth and the man, who had never met before, had a few drinks and were walking to a bar when Ashworth called him over to an alley and beat him with his fists and a 6-foot board and kicked him. The victim was beaten so badly a deputy coroner said his injuries were consistent with a high-speed traffic accident or plane crash.

After beating the man, Ashworth took about $40 from him and went back to a bar in Newark, about 30 miles east of Columbus. Ashworth told police that the victim, a divorced father of a then-12-year-old girl, came onto him and he freaked out.

Leading up to: Ashworth was not been able to have a final conversation with his parents.

An Ohio prisons spokeswoman says he stayed up through the night trying to call his adoptive parents in Louisiana, but phone lines are still down in that part of the country because of Hurricane Rita.

The parents were unable to travel to Ohio because the hurricane caused them to miss their flight.

Last words: "A life for a life, let it be done and justice will be served," Ashworth said in his final statement after taking a couple of labored breaths.

Ashworth breathed calmly as the execution started, then shook before his breaths became more rapid. Soon the 6-foot-4 Ashworth was motionless, his white Adidas hightops hanging off the gurney's edge.

Factoids: Ashworth was the....

40th murderer executed in U.S. in 2005
984th murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
2nd murderer executed in Ohio in 2005
17th murderer executed in Ohio since 1976

The execution attracted about 120 protesters, mostly Roman Catholic high school and college students from the Cleveland area who paid $25 apiece to charter three buses. They set up sandwich boards outside the prison fence Tuesday morning with lists of those executed in Ohio and their pictures.

Meanwhile, inmates at the prison remained locked in their cells early Tuesday after an inmate was attacked and killed Monday.

A spokesperson said Monday's murder of the inmate was unrelated to the execution.

Rex Elam of Hamilton County, serving a sentence of 70 years to life for aggravated murder, robbery, rape, and kidnapping, was murdered by a fellow inmate armed with a shard of glass.

There are 196 men and one woman on Ohio's death row.

ALABAMA LAST MEAL
JOHN W. PEOPLES, JR.
September 22, 2005

...he wanted their 1968 red Corvette....

Last Meal: Peoples ate very little in the days before the execution and did not make the traditional request for a last meal,

The skinny: Peoples was executed Thursday for killing a family of three and driving off in their vintage sports car in 1983.

More skinny: The boy and his mother were beaten to death with a rifle, but the father's body was too decomposed by the time he was found for investigators to determine the cause of death. Prosecutors say Peoples killed the three because he wanted their 1968 red Corvette, and he was arrested after attempting to sell the car shortly after the killings. Peoples had argued that because he led investigators to the bodies, his attorney should have taken steps to get him a sentence less than the death penalty.

Peoples was arrested in the Corvette soon after the slayings.

Leading up to: In the final days leading up to his execution, Peoples argued that he had a right to die by electrocution, as his original death sentence stipulated, instead of lethal injection, a method Alabama adopted beginning July 1, 2002. The head of the state's death penalty appeals office, Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw, said the execution should be allowed to go forward since Peoples could have requested death in the electric chair but didn't.

Peoples spent Thursday morning visiting with several relatives, including his mother, two daughters and son. He left $186.19 to his brother.

Last words and such: Peoples did not look at or offer an apology to relatives of the victims, instead thanking his own family for their support. "I hope I've handled everything since I've been here with dignity," he said in his final statement as he faced his brother.

Factoids: Peoples was the....

39th murderer executed in U.S. in 2005
983rd murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
4th murderer executed in Alabama in 2005
34th murderer executed in Alabama since 1976