For years, John Grant († 60) sat on death row in the US state of Oklahoma, waiting for his execution. The African American was sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder of a prison cafeteria worker. He had committed the crime as an inmate.
The 60-year-old was finally killed by lethal injection on Thursday. It was the first execution in Oklahoma in six years. Before that, the doomed man was allowed to order one last meal. And Grant obviously had a lot of appetite. His executioner’s meal was tough, as reported by the US media.
He ordered two cheeseburgers with bacon, a large pack of barbecue-flavored chips, two liters of ice cream with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry flavors and a large pack of peanut butter biscuits from the “Nutter Butter” brand. To drink there was two liters of the cinnamon shower «Mr. Pibb ». All at once. Not a light meal. The menu comes to over 6000 kilocalories.
In principle, the prisoners are allowed to order whatever they want. The hangman’s meal must not cost more than 25 US dollars – the equivalent of 22 francs.
Chicken wings, steak or just mint ice cream with chocolate chips
It wasn’t just Grant who ordered a lavish hangman’s meal. For example, serial killer John Wayne Gacy (1942–1994), also known as the “killer clown”, ate a bucket of Kentucky fried chicken, french fries, deep-fried prawns and strawberries.
Ted Bundy (1946–1989) also got hold of before his execution. The serial killer was served a steak, eggs, potato pancakes, toast with butter and jam. With milk and a glass of orange juice.
Timothy McVeigh (1968–2001), who killed 168 people in a bomb attack, was completely different. Before his execution, he ordered almost a liter of ice cream. Flavor. Mint with chocolate chips. The murderer Donnie Edward Johnson (1951–2019), on the other hand, completely waived one last menu and called for food to be donated for the homeless.
Execution by lethal injection under fire
The execution of Grant caused a stir in the United States. Not because of his hangman’s meal. The reason: he died a painful death. The convict vomited and had convulsions before his heart stopped beating, according to witnesses.
He vomited and twitched all over his body about two dozen times before he was pronounced dead, journalists attending the execution reported at a press conference afterwards. The competent authority does not want to know anything about it. “The execution of inmate Grant was carried out in accordance with the protocols of the law enforcement agency and without complications,” said a spokesman for the agency.
Grant’s lawyers had argued that the use of the sedative midazolam was a cruel and unusual punishment. Midazolam has been identified as a possible contributing factor in a number of execution incidents in Oklahoma. The last one occurred in 2015, as a result of which executions were suspended in the state.
The lawsuit will be heard in court next year
Back then, there were a number of serious executions incidents that raised questions about the drug cocktail in the lethal injection: In April 2014, convicted murderer Clayton Lockett died 40 minutes after the lethal injection, after a drug had been injected into the muscle tissue injected into the bloodstream.
A lawsuit against lethal injections in Oklahoma is due to go to court in February 2022. An appeals court had suspended all executions pending a decision on the case. The state prosecutor then turned to the Supreme Court and successfully applied for the suspension to be lifted. (jmh / AFP / SDA)