One of oldest death row inmate's 'basic' $20 final meal revealed

Oscar Franklin Smith, 72, was set to be executed yesterday by The Tennessee Department of Correction and shared what his simple final meal was.

Smith is one of the oldest inmates on death row in Tennessee. The 72-year-old was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder for the murder of his wife Judith Robirds Smith, 35, and her sons from another marriage, Chad Burnett, 16, and Jason Burnett, 13 in 1989.

Smith was set to die by lethal injection yesterday.

With a meagre $20 budget, Smith chose to have a double bacon cheeseburger, deep-dish apple pie, and vanilla bean ice cream, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

Despite picking out a final meal and receiving communion from his spiritual leader, Smith was spared from yesterday's death date just one hour before the set execution.

Oscar Smith chose a double bacon cheeseburger, deep-dish apple pie, and vanilla bean ice cream as his last meal Getty Images

The reprieve was issued by Governor Bill Lee due to an "oversight in preparation for lethal injection".

"It was obvious, physical just relief flooding over him," Amy Harwell, Smith's attorney, told The Tennessean. "He was thanking God this had stopped for now."

The reprieve is set to last through June 1.

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By the time Smith learned of his reprieve, he had already consumed his last meal. It is unclear if he will get a second last meal of his choosing.

Death row inmates famously pick their last meal shortly before they're set to die. Each state has its own rules on what the last meal may consist of and how much it may cost.

In Tennessee, inmates may not exceed the $20 limit.

One state, Texas, no longer allows inmates to choose their final meal because in 2011, Lawrence R. Brewer, a death row inmate, chose an excessive amount of food and then refused to eat any of it.

While Smith chose his last meal and was reprieved from execution, the oldest death row inmate in Texas, 78-year-old Carl Wayne Buntion was not given a last meal and was executed yesterday by the Texas Department of Corrections.

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