Perishables is a blog dedicated to humanizing the experiences and food of the criminals on death row. Those on death row have a limited shelf life before they perish, similar to a perishable food item they may eat on their last days. 

Scattered fingernails, clumps of hair, frayed clothing. It was there: his remains. Imbedded into tar, fresh summer grass, and the chains his ankles were tied to. A Monday commuter, driving along Huff Creek Road, perhaps listening to a song to get them in the mood for a work day, sees something that catches their eye. 

Or perhaps 81 things catch their eye.

James Byrd Jr. was the victim of a hate crime. Unable to get a ride back home, Byrd was walking back from a party. He was just a mile away when a pickup truck pulled up, offering him a ride. He hopped in, only to return as a soulless corpse. 

In the truck was: Shawn Berry, who enjoyed killing for the thrill of it, John “Possum” King, Berry’s longtime friend and white supremacist, and Lawrence Brewer, a racist psychopath. 

I can’t imagine the rumbling fear that Byrd felt as the truck drove further and further from his home, bringing him to a secluded Texas road. I can’t even imagine the horror he felt as the three beat him, spray painted his face, urinated and defecated on him, then dragged him by the ankles on the paved road, making Byrd more and more aware of the color of his own skin. Facing death, I can’t even imagine his will to live. He kept his head up for the 3 miles he was dragged, until his body finally hit a culvert and died. 

The three were sent to prison: Berry was sentenced to life as he felt an amount of remorse for his actions, while King and Brewer were sentenced to death as they felt no remorse whatsoever.

Brewer was quoted saying, “As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets. No, I’d do it all over again, to tell you the truth.” 

For his death row meal, he requested and was given: two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions, a triple meat bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side, a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapeños, a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup, one pound of barbecue with half a loaf of white bread, three fajitas with fixings, a Meat Lovers pizza, three root beers, one pint of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

He didn’t eat any of it.

He “wasn’t hungry.”

Due to not eating his final meal despite ordering such a large one, Texas stopped granting last meal requests entirely.