Thomas Grasso was sentenced to death for the murder of 87-year-old Hilda Johnson and was allowed to request a final meal before his execution – but claimed something was missing from the plate
A man on Death Row enjoyed a final meal of milkshakes, burgers and pie – alongside 48 seafood items – before criticising the meal with his last words. Thomas Grasso was sentenced to death for the murder of 87-year-old Hilda Johnson in Oklahoma, where capital punishment was permitted at the time. He was also sentenced to 20 years to life for the murder of an 81-year-old Leslie Holtz in New York.
Grasso, 35, was executed by lethal injection on March 20, 1995 – but not before he was given a rather elaborate dinner to see him off. However, his plateful left him wanting more. The last meal consisted of two dozen steamed mussels, two dozen steamed clams with a lemon wedge, a double cheeseburger from Burger King, half a dozen barbecued spare ribs, half a pumpkin pie, spaghetti, two strawberry milkshakes, and diced strawberries.
This wasn’t enough to satisfy Grasso, who would use his last words to criticise the kitchen staff for subbing one of his requests for another food.
Less than an hour before he died, Grasso said he wanted “the press to know this” and issued a statement regarding the meal mix-up. As part of his request, the murderer had asked for SpaghettiOs with meatballs.
He did not receive the meatballs and released a statement shortly before his death. He said: “I did not get my SpaghettiOs, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.”
Grasso was pronounced dead at 1.22am on March 20, 1995. His last words criticising the food was preceded by three further comments including one that quoted T.S. Eliot, and another, a poem titled A Visit with Mystery, delivered verbatim.
Some members of the public remain confused by the meal request decades later. A post to the r/TodayILearned subreddit saw people try and decide on why the SpaghettiO’s were not included in the request.
One person suggested: “Not just the regular ones. They were supposed to be the ones with meatballs, apparently.” Another added: “This is why some places stop last meals.”
A third asked: “It’s a strange custom. Give someone a lovely meal before you kill them. If you’ve decided they should die, why give them a nice meal?”
Others believe large requests such as this are a reason states are no longer inclined to respect the last meal wishes. One person wrote: “Texas stopped doing last meal requests because people on Death Row have too much time to think up ridiculous requests.”
More recently, Death Row inmate Keith Edmund Gavin opted not to have an elaborate last meal before his execution. Instead, he opted for Mountain Dew and an ice cream from the prison vending machine.
Gavin was executed by lethal injection in 2024, the same year as Derrick Ryan Dearman, a mass murderer who feasted on a seafood platter of catfish, crab, and oysters before his lethal injection was administered.
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