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Condemned inmate wants steak, chicken, pork chop for last meal

The gurney used for lethal injections sits behind glass windows in a small cinder block building at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. (Ben Gray/Staff)
The gurney used for lethal injections sits behind glass windows in a small cinder block building at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. (Ben Gray/Staff)
By Rhonda Cook
May 11, 2017

J.W. Ledford, who is schueduled to be executed Tuesday, has asked for a high-calorie last meal with three kinds of meat.

The Department of Corrections on Thursday released Ledford’s requested menu: filet mignon wrapped in bacon with pepper Jack cheese, large French fries, 10 chicken tenders with sauce, fried pork chop, bloomin’ onion, pecan pie with vanilla ice cream, sherbert and Sprite.

Ledford has filed a petition for clemency and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles will hear from his lawyers and advocates on Monday. He also has a complaint pending in federal court in Atlanta, saying a death by lethal injection could be horrific he reacts to the lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, because of a medication he has been taking for a chronic health problem.

But if the courts or the Parole Board don't find in his favor, Ledford, 45, will be the first person Georgia has executed this year.

He was sentenced to die for murdering his elderly neighbor, Dr. Harry Johnston, in 1992. According to testimony, some of the stab wounds Ledford delivered almost decapitated the 73-year-old physician.

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Rhonda Cook
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