Death row inmate forgoes last meal, asks for food to be delivered to homeless person

An inmate on death row in Tennessee reportedly opted out of selecting his final meal and instead requested that one be provided to a homeless person.

Donnie Johnson did not put in his request for a final meal before his scheduled execution at 7 p.m. Thursday, the Tennessee Department of Correction told WSMV News 4.

{mosads}”Mr. Johnson realizes that his $20 allotment will not feed many homeless people,” Johnson’s public defender, Kelley Henry, said, according to the Nashville TV station. “His request is that those who have supported him provide a meal to a homeless person.”

Henry told the station that Johnson’s request was inspired by executed Tennessee inmate Philip Workman, who asked for a vegetarian pizza to be delivered to a homeless shelter instead of him getting a final meal.

That request was not honored before Workman’s execution in 2007, but “benefactors across the country delivered pizzas to homeless shelters in response,” Henry said.

Johnson will reportedly be served the same meal as other inmates at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. 

Johnson, 68, was sentenced to death in 1984 for the murder of his wife Connie Johnson, The Tennessean reported. Authorities say Johnson carried out the killing by stuffing a 30-gallon trash bag down his wife’s throat, suffocating her.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Wednesday announced that he denied Johnson’s clemency request.

“After a prayerful and deliberate consideration of Don Johnson‘s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and will not be intervening,” Lee said in a statement.