One Texas death row inmate is the reason prisoners in the state no longer get to choose a final meal before their execution.

For decades, inmates in Texas were allowed to request a last meal of their choosing before being put to death. But that long-standing tradition came to an abrupt end in 2011 after one inmate’s actions sparked outrage among lawmakers. The inmate was Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was executed on September 21, 2011, for his role in the 1998 killing of James Byrd Jr.

The murder shocked the nation. Byrd, a Black man, was tortured before being chained by his ankles to the back of a pickup truck and dragged for three miles. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice: “Brewer and his co-defendants then dragged the victim to his death, leaving his decapitated and dismembered body to be found the following day by citizens and law enforcement officials,” as cited by The Mirror.

The crime sent shockwaves across the country and directly triggered major hate crime legislation. Brewer and co-defendant John William King became the first white men in Texas history to receive the death penalty for killing a Black man. Both had ties to white supremacist organizations, including the Confederate Knights of America and the Ku Klux Klan. A third man involved, Shawn Allen Berry, was sentenced to life in prison.

The tradition of the final meal 

Ahead of his execution on September 21, 2011, Brewer submitted a final meal request that was, to put it mildly, extreme.

According to VT, the large order included two chicken fried steaks, fried okra with ketchup, a cheese omelet with ground beef, jalapenos and bell peppers, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger and three fajitas with all the trimmings. But it didn’t stop there. He also wanted one pound of barbecue with half a loaf of white bread, meat lover’s pizza, vanilla ice cream, peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts, and three root beers.

The state prepared every last item. But when it was time to eat, Brewer didn’t touch a single bite. When asked if he had any final words, he simply said: “No. I have no final statement.” He was pronounced dead at 6:21 PM by lethal injection.

“Enough is enough”

Texas lawmakers were furious. State Senator John Whitmire wasted no time, firing off a letter to the executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Division:

“Enough is enough… it is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. It’s a privilege which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim.”

The executive director agreed – and just like that, an 87-year tradition was gone. No death row inmate in Texas would ever again be allowed to choose their final meal that way.

For the Byrd family, Brewer’s execution brought a painful but necessary sense of closure. His sister, Clara Taylor, addressed the moment, saying: “Hopefully, today we have been reminded that racial hatred and prejudice can lead to tragic consequences for both the victim and his family, as well as the perpetrator and his family. Our sincere condolences to the family of Lawrence Brewer.”

Byrd’s two sisters and a niece described the execution as “the next step to total justice for James.”

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