Saturday, October 30

Velma Barfield


Convicted December 2, 1978 for the murder of Stuart Taylor, sentenced to death. Executed via lethal injection November 2, 1984 at the North Carolina Central Prison.

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Cheez Doodles
Coca-Cola


Barfield was put to death for the murder of boyfriend Stuart Taylor, whom she killed with a mixture of arsenic and beer, but it's likely she was responsible for a trail of other deaths that followed her, including those of her mother and prior husbands. Nearly 62 at the time of her execution, Barfield became known as the "Death Row Granny," and was the first woman to be executed in the United States since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty, and the first woman to be executed by lethal injection. Like Karla Faye Tucker and many other death row inmates, Barfield seemed to have found God during her imprisonment, though later claimed she was only pretending. She declined a formal last meal, choosing instead a bag of Cheez Doodles and a can of Coca-Cola for a final meal that seems more like a convenience store snack.