Taylor Parker is one of the few women currently on death row in the United States, but when her execution date eventually arrives, she will not be granted one of the most well-known traditions associated with capital punishment: choosing a final meal.
For decades, inmates facing execution in Texas were allowed to request a special final meal before their sentence was carried out.
That changed in 2011 after the execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer, one of the men convicted in the racially motivated murder of James Byrd Jr.
Before his execution, Brewer submitted an enormous meal request. According to reports at the time, he asked for chicken-fried steaks, fried okra, a cheese omelet, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fajitas, barbecue, a meat lovers pizza, vanilla ice cream, peanut butter fudge and several root beers.
Prison staff fulfilled the request.
But when the food arrived, Brewer refused to eat any of it, reportedly telling officials he was not hungry.
The incident sparked outrage and drew criticism from lawmakers. Shortly afterward, Texas ended its long-standing final meal tradition, meaning inmates would no longer be allowed to request a special meal before execution.
As a result, Parker will not be given that option.
Parker’s crime shocked investigators
Parker, now 33, was sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering her friend, 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, in October 2020.
Prosecutors said Parker had spent months pretending to be pregnant, telling her boyfriend, friends and family members that she was expecting a baby. She reportedly collected baby clothes and supplies while maintaining the deception.
What her boyfriend did not know was that Parker had undergone a hysterectomy the previous year.
Investigators said Parker targeted Simmons-Hancock, who was eight months pregnant at the time.
Authorities later alleged that Parker stabbed the young mother more than 100 times before removing the unborn child from her womb in an attempt to pass the baby off as her own.
Police became suspicious after stopping Parker while she was driving and finding her covered in blood while holding the infant, whose umbilical cord was still attached.
Parker initially claimed she had given birth on the side of the road. Medical staff quickly determined there was no evidence she had recently delivered a baby.
She was later arrested and charged with murde and still remains on death row with no execution date announced.
New documentary revisits the case
The case has returned to the spotlight following the release of Netflix’s documentary Maternal Instinct, which examines the crime and its aftermath.
In the documentary trailer, Parker’s former boyfriend Wade Griffin speaks publicly about the case for the first time.
“It was unimaginable what she did, I don’t even know how to explain it,” Griffin says.
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