A death row inmate who claimed ‘justice’ had let him down amid his execution is considered to have eaten one of the ‘most elaborate’ last meals in history.
In August 2002, Steven Michael Woods Jr. was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Ronald Whitehead, 21, and Bethena Brosz, 19, in May 2001.
The pair were discovered by a car off a golf course by two men driving in Dallas, with Whitehead having been shot in the head six times and his neck cut four times.
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Meanwhile Brosz, who was found alive but died the next day, had been shot twice in the head, once in the knee, and had been cut on her throat.
Police were tipped that Woods, who was 22 at the time of his sentencing, was involved in the killings, along with Marcus Rhodes.
Woods admitted he had been with Whitehead and Brosz the evening before their bodies were found but wasn’t arrested.
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He was later reprimanded due to several witnesses claiming he had informed them of his plan to commit murders, alleging he later told them about his participation in the victims’ deaths.
Woods, however, maintained his innocence, with NCB DFW stating he actually blamed the murders on his friend, Rhodes.
Witnesses testified during his trial that he’d lured Whitehead on the pretence of a drug deal and killed him because he knew about another murder that Woods was involved in in California.
Prosecutors alleged Brosz was killed due to being a witness to Whitehead’s death.
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A jury later found Woods guilty of murdering the two victims and he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Meanwhile, Rhodes pleaded guilty to capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
Over the next few years, multiple appeals were rejected by both the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the US Supreme Court.
The Michigan native, who was incarcerated on the Texas state death row for men, ordered his elaborate final meal before being executed in the Huntsville Unit in 2011.
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It started with a kilogram of bacon, a large four-meat pizza (bacon, sausage, pepperoni and hamburger) and four fried chicken breasts.
Five fried chicken steaks were then added to the order, along with two bacon hamburgers on french toast, fries, a dozen garlic bread sticks and some marinara on the side.
To wash that glutenous feast down, Woods also requested Pepsi, root beer, sweet tea and Mountain Dew, two times over.
For dessert, he feasted on a litre of ice cream.
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On the day of his death, the US Supreme Court rejected a final appeal for a stay of execution.
In his final statement before being put to death, Woods maintained his innocence.
“You're not about to witness an execution, you're about to witness a murder. ... I've never killed anybody, never…This whole thing is wrong,” he said.
“You're not about to witness an execution, you are about to witness a murder. I am strapped down for something Marcus Rhodes did.
“I never killed anybody, never. I love you, Mom. I love you, Tali. This is wrong. This whole thing is wrong. I can't believe you are going to let Marcus Rhodes walk around free. Justice has let me down.”
Woods went on to say: “Well Warden, if you are going to murder someone, go ahead and do it. Pull the trigger! It's coming. I can feel it coming. Goodbye everyone, I love you,” as per the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Two hours after gorging on his last meal, Woods was executed via lethal injection on September 13 and pronounced dead at 6.22pm.
His execution was the tenth carried out in Texas in 2011.
Topics: Crime, True Crime, Food And Drink, US News, Death Row
Ella Scott