A death row inmate was denied his last request because it was deemed “harmful to his health.”
It was an ironic decision, considering he was set to be executed just hours later.
Nicholas Lee Ingram was sentenced to death for a 1983 crime in Atlanta, where he abducted a man, robbed him of $60, tied him to a tree, and shot him in the head. He also shot the man’s wife, but she survived and identified him as the killer.
As a British-American dual citizen, his case drew appeals for leniency from the UK, where capital punishment is rare. However, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay, and Ingram was executed by electric chair in April 1995 at age 31.
Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who was born in the same Cambridge hospital as Ingram, represented him.
“I had to watch him die, and I liked Nicky—we’d been friends for 12 years when they killed him,” he told LADbible TV.
Smith shared what Ingram’s final request was.
“They go through the whole routine about last meals, and Nicky said, ‘I don’t want a last meal because you’re about to kill me,’” the lawyer recalled.
“Then he asked for a last cigarette. So I asked if they would give him one.”
But officials refused, saying, “No, because it’s bad for his health.”
Smith was stunned. “You’ve got to be kidding me—you’re about to kill this guy,” he said.
Frustrated, he went to the media, which embarrassed the prison officials.
“So they finally gave him a last cigarette,” he said. “But then they shaved his head and leg and put 2,400 volts through him. It’s just disgusting.”
Smith admitted it hasn’t been easy since his friend’s execution, saying he still struggles with PTSD nearly three decades later.
“If I close my eyes right now, I can see him being electrocuted in front of me,” he added. “It’s horrible.”
When Ingram was strapped into the chair, he reportedly spat at a warden when asked if he had any last words.
When offered a final prayer, he simply closed his eyes.
So what? He murdered a guy in cold blood. He deserved to be executed.