James Edward Smith, the convicted inmate, was asked for his last meal before he was put to death on June 20, 1990. But in an unusual death row, the 37-year-old’s culinary plea was rejected because of how unsettling his creepy response was.
During an armed robbery in the previous years, Smith viciously killed life insurance employee Larry Don Rohus. The defendant, who was born in Kentucky, went up to a female bank teller’s window at the Union National Life Insurance Company in Houston, Texas, in March 1983.
He ordered the employee to turn over large amounts of cash while wearing a mask, slid the glass open, and aimed a revolver at her.
She refused, so Smith turned on Rohus, a 44-year-old insurance worker, who obeyed his orders. Unfortunately, Smith fired two rounds, one of which struck his victim in the chest, even though Rohus begged the armed robber to stop.
After being taken to the hospital, Rohus passed away in the hours that followed from his wounds. Two office workers pursued cab driver Smith after he fled the scene, drawing the attention of local police, who took him into custody. The inmate was detained without bond after being charged with murder.
He was convicted as an inmate for capital murder and given the death penalty a month after his crimes. Smith made a terrifying response when asked what he would like to eat for his final supper by prison guards, as is customary on death row, after a date for his execution was eventually established.
2. James Edward Smith was executed in 1990 for capital murder in Texas after robbing a bank. For his last meal he requested a lump of dirt. The prison denied his request and he later settled on a plain yoghurt. pic.twitter.com/IbtY5ks4MQ
— Morbid Knowledge (@Morbidful) November 19, 2024
Smith thought the inmate might help with his reincarnation by providing ‘rhaeakunda earth’, a sort of soil frequently used in voodoo ceremonies. He has been known to engage in strange rituals in his cell while incarcerated. However, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice later rejected his specialty request, claiming that dirt was not a permitted diet.
Smith allegedly pledged to haunt the maximum security prison for three hundred years as a result. The murderer’s final words were “Hare Krishna” before he was killed by lethal injection at Huntsville United in Texas a few days later.
Texas made the decision to stop asking death row inmates for their final supper selections back in 2011. A few years prior, white supremacist and murderer Lawrence Russell Brewer made an exorbitant request that led to the ruling.
Permintaan makanan terakhir yang paling aneh yang diajukan oleh narapidana hukuman mati.
~ Sebuah Thread 🧵1. James Edward Smith dieksekusi pada tahun 1990 atas tuduhan pemb*nuhan berencana di Texas setelah merampok bank.
Untuk santapan terakhirnya, ia meminta segumpal… pic.twitter.com/VmLOGsYbZb
— aspitaaaa (@pranatadayken) April 21, 2025
A pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat pizza, a pint of ice cream, a slab of peanut butter fudge, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a portion of fried okra, two chicken fried steaks, and a pint of ice cream were among the last foods Brewer requested after being sentenced to death for the vicious 1998 hate-killing of James Byrd Jr.
State Senator John Whitmire asked that Texas prison officials stop the 87-year-old custom after Brewer failed to take a single morsel despite his request being followed.
