Last meals: What Tennessee death row inmates picked before execution

When a Tennessee death row inmate faces execution, picking a last meal is one of the few remaining moments of free will.

As the mechanics and logisitics of executions have continued to evolve in Tennessee, the last meal has been a constant.

Inmates are typically given $20 to spend on the meal.

Oscar Franklin Smith, 75, who is scheduled for execution at 10 a.m. May 22, has picked a last meal twice. In 2022, Smith was scheduled to die by lethal injection, but Gov. Bill Lee issued a temporary reprieve about an hour before the execution. His double bacon cheeseburger, deep-dish apple pie and vanilla ice cream were not to be his last.

This month, Smith requested a similar meal — hotdogs, tater tots and apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Here are some of the last meals chosen by recent death row inmates.

Pork chops and mashed potatoes

Nicholas Todd Sutton, 58, was the last inmate executed in Tennessee on Feb. 20, 2020. Convicted in the 1979 deaths of his grandmother, Dorothy Sutton, his high school friend John Large and another man, Charles Almon, Sutton did not receive a death sentence until after fellow inmate Carl Estep was stabbed to death in 1985.

For his last meal, Sutton chose fried pork chops, mashed potatoes with gravy, and peach pie with vanilla ice cream.

Sutton was executed by electric chair.

Philly cheesesteaks

Stephen West, 56, was executed by electric chair Aug. 19, 2019. West was given a death sentence after Wanda Romines, 51, and her 15-year-old daughter, Sheila Romines, were stabbed to death in their East Tennessee home in 1986.

West requested a Philly cheesesteak and french fries for his last meal.

Lee Hall, 53, was executed by electric chair on Dec. 5, 2019. Hall was sentenced to death for the death of his ex-girlfriend Traci Crozier in 1991. Crozier was only 22 when Hall threw a jug of gasoline into the car she was in and lit it on fire. She suffered burns to 95% of her body and died hours later.

For his last meal, Hall also chose a Philly cheesesteak, two orders of onion rings, a slice of cheesecake and a Pepsi.

Meals for the homeless

Donnie Edward Johnson, 68, was executed May 16, 2019, by lethal injection.

In 1984, Johnson killed his wife, Connie Johnson, at his work by stuffing a plastic bag down her throat. She also had cuts and bruises on her head and internal bleeding at the time of her death. A co-worker helped move Connie Johnson's body and leave it in her parked van at the Mall of Memphis.

Johnson declined to pick a last meal and asked that his supporters donate meals to the homeless instead, paying homage to Philip Workman who asked for his last $20 to pay for pizza to a homeless shelter in 2007. Prison staff did not send pizza to a shelter, but supporters did instead.

Southern delicacies

Billy Ray Irick, Edmund Zagorski and David Miller were each executed in 2018.

Irick, 59, was executed for the 1985 rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer in Knox County. Irick died by lethal injection on Aug. 9, 2018. For his last meal, Irick chose a deluxe burger, onion rings and a Pepsi soda.

On Nov. 1, 2018, Zagorski was executed by electric chair. Zagorski was convicted in the April 1983 deaths of John Dale Dotson and Jimmy Porter, who were shot and had their throats cut in the woods of Robertson County.

Zagorski chose pickled pig knuckles and pig tails for his last meal.

Miller was the last inmate executed in 2018. He died by electric chair on Dec. 6, 2018.

Miller was sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of 23-year-old Lee Standifer. Miller fractured her skull and stabbed her repeatedly.

For his last meal, Miller was served fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits and coffee.