One human rights lawyer has told of how his client on Death Row was denied his last meal request for a bizarre reason, leaving him disgusted
Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith has disclosed the harrowing story of his client, Nicholas Lee Ingram, who was executed in the United States for murder.
Smith recounted how Ingram, in his last days in 1995, preferred a final cigarette over a meal but was initially refused on the grounds that it was harmful to his health. Ingram, who held dual British and American citizenship, had been convicted in 1983 for the murder of J.C. Sawyer, 55, and the injury of his wife, Mary Eunice Sawyer, during a robbery. He met his end via electric chair on April 7, 1995, at the age of 31.
Clive shared a poignant personal link with Ingram, noting, “Nicky Ingram, he and I were born in the same hospital, Addenbrooks in Cambridge, and I had to watch him die. And I liked Nick, we’d been friends for 12 years when they killed him.”
In response to the bizarre denial of Ingram’s last wish based on health concerns, Clive highlighted the irony to the media, which ultimately led to the authorities allowing Ingram his final cigarette, albeit after some embarrassment.
Clive Stafford Smith expressed his revulsion at the absurdity of the situation, saying, “You know they go through all that nonsense about last meals and Nicky said, ‘I don’t want a last meal because you’re about to kill me,’ and he said, ‘I want a last cigarette’. So I ask if they’ll give him a last cigarette and they say no because it’s bad for his health.”
Despite eventually securing Ingram his last cigarette, Clive was deeply disturbed by the execution process: “And I say, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me, you’re planning to kill this poor guy,’ so I went out and told the media, and they were humiliated by that, so they gave him a last cigarette, but then they shaved his head and shaved his leg and put 2,400 volts through him, it’s just disgusting.”
The memory of Ingram’s execution still haunts Clive, leading him to admit he suffers from PTSD to this day, with the horror remaining vivid even after thirty years.
Meanwhile, the debate over capital punishment in America continues. In a poignant example from 2007, Philip Workman, who was sentenced for the murder of a police officer, requested that his last act be to provide vegetable pizzas to homeless people near the prison. Although the state rejected his request, the citizens of Nashville responded by delivering hundreds of pizzas, overwhelming local shelters. Cliff Tredway from the Rescue Mission commented on the event, “It’s more than pizzas that helped that shelter. It’s the story of a guy whose execution translated into a generous act.”