{"id":2554,"date":"2026-08-01T00:01:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=2554"},"modified":"2026-08-01T00:01:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:01:43","slug":"death-row-inmate-suffered-excruciating-execution-after-making-last-meal-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=2554","title":{"rendered":"Death Row Inmate Suffered \u2018Excruciating\u2019 Execution After Making Last Meal \u2018Mistake\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0death row\u00a0inmate suffered an \u2018excruciating\u2019 execution after making a \u2018mistake\u2019 in his last meal request.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The practice of giving condemned prisoners a final meal before execution has been around for centuries, though its origins are darker than you might expect.<\/p>\n

Reddit\u00a0reports that historians believe it started from an old superstition \u2013 people thought that if they shared food with the condemned, the person\u2019s ghost wouldn\u2019t come back to haunt them. Pretty grim.<\/p>\n

Over the years, though, it became less about superstition and more about showing a last bit of humanity to someone about to die.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0United States, most states with the death penalty let inmates request a special last meal, but there are rules.<\/p>\n

Texas actually\u00a0got rid of special last meals\u00a0altogether back in 2011 after one prisoner ordered a massive spread and didn\u2019t touch a bite of it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a strange tradition when you think about it, and people are split on whether it\u2019s a decent thing to do or just weird. Either way, the last meal remains one of the most human moments in an otherwise brutal process.<\/p>\n

\"Prison
The practice of giving condemned prisoners a final meal before execution has been around for centuries. Credit: Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wesley Ira Purkey, 68, was placed on death row in 2004 for kidnapping, raping, and murdering 16-year-old schoolgirl Jennifer Long in 1998.<\/p>\n

He reportedly lured the young girl into his pickup truck outside of a supermarket after she was last seen skipping lessons on January 22.<\/p>\n

Purkey proceeded to violently r*** and murder Long, and then dismembered, burned, and dumped the young girl\u2019s body in a septic pond.<\/p>\n

Long\u2019s remains are yet to be found.<\/p>\n

A pattern of violence<\/h2>\n

Purkey\u2019s crimes didn\u2019t end with Jennifer Long\u2019s murder. He also beat 80-year-old polio sufferer Mary Bales to death in October 1998 with a claw hammer after he had been to her house to fix a kitchen tap.<\/p>\n

He was arrested after the victim\u2019s neighbors became aware of what had happened.<\/p>\n

Purkey pleaded guilty to Bales\u2019 murder and was sentenced to life in prison. He then confessed to Long\u2019s murder and was given the death penalty.<\/p>\n

\"Wesley
Wesley Ira Purkey suffered an \u2018excruciating\u2019 death after making a \u2018mistake\u2019 in his last meal request. Credit: Kansas Department of Corrections<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The brutal execution<\/h2>\n

Purkey\u00a0was executed in 2020 after he was given a lethal injection of pentobarbital, as per the\u00a0Death Penalty Information Center.<\/p>\n

His autopsy revealed that he suffered \u2018severe bilateral acute pulmonary oedema and \u2018frothy pulmonary oedema in the trachea and main stem bronchi.\u2019<\/p>\n

This means that fluid entered his lungs and trachea quickly, leading to him feeling \u2018a near-drowning\u2019 sensation, which medical experts describe as one of the \u2018most excruciating feelings known to man,\u2019 according to\u00a0news.com.au.<\/p>\n

Dr. Gail Van Norman explained: \u201cIt is a virtual medical certainty that most, if not all, prisoners will experience excruciating suffering, including sensations of drowning and suffocation from [the lethal injection drug] pentobarbital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final words of remorse<\/h2>\n

Purkey reportedly expressed remorse in his final words, saying (via\u00a0Daily Star): \u201cI deeply regret the pain and suffering I caused to Jennifer\u2019s family. I am deeply sorry. I deeply regret the pain I caused to my daughter, who I love so very much.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sanitized murder really does not serve no purpose whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long\u2019s family were present at the execution, with her father William saying: \u201cWe took care of today, what we needed to take care of. It has been a long time coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needed to take his last breath \u2014 he took my daughter\u2019s last breath. And there\u2019s some resolve. There is no closure, and there never will be because I won\u2019t get my daughter back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pecan
Wesley Ira Purkey reportedly requested pecan pie for his final meal. Credit: Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The final meal mistake<\/h2>\n

In his final days, it\u2019s believed Purkey suffered from Alzheimer\u2019s disease, as per\u00a0AP News.<\/p>\n

The night before his execution, the inmate reportedly saw Bill Clinton on\u00a0TV\u00a0and said that he would vote for him in the upcoming presidential election.<\/p>\n

Purkey is believed to have asked for pecan pie for his last meal. He asked to have it \u2018later,\u2019 unaware there wouldn\u2019t be a \u2018later.\u2019<\/p>\n

Due to his Alzheimer\u2019s disease, Purkey didn\u2019t fully comprehend that his execution was imminent and that he would never have another opportunity to eat the pecan pie he had requested.<\/p>\n

The request to save his final meal for later revealed a man who had lost touch with the reality of his situation. It was a poignant reminder of how dementia had robbed him of his ability to understand even the most basic aspects of his final hours.<\/p>\n

Prison staff reportedly tried to explain to Purkey that he should eat the pie when it was served, but his confused mental state meant he couldn\u2019t grasp the urgency or finality of the moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0death row\u00a0inmate suffered an \u2018excruciating\u2019 execution after making a \u2018mistake\u2019 in his last meal request. The practice of giving condemned prisoners a final meal before execution has been around for … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-2554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trending","tag-breaking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2555,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions\/2555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}