Robert Alton Harris was convicted of the July 1978 execution-style murders of two teenage boys in San Diego, California. Harris hijacked the victims’ vehicle to use as a getaway car for a planned bank robbery, driving them to an isolated area before shooting them at close range and eating the remaining portions of their unfinished fast-food lunches.

Harris spent 13 years on death row at San Quentin State Prison. His execution on April 21, 1992, marked a highly significant structural event—it was the first execution carried out in the State of California in 25 years, drawing immense media crowds and strict legal scrutiny.

Harris requested a highly eclectic, brand-specific commercial menu that required correctional staff to source products from local retail franchises outside the prison grounds:

The processing of Harris’s order required specific security clearances, as delivery drivers from regional corporate chains had to be cleared through San Quentin’s outer perimeter checkpoints to deliver the food fresh to the death house kitchen.

Harris reportedly ate the extensive meal with substantial speed. Behavioral observers noted that his focus on consuming high-density sweets (jelly beans) and fast food mirrored the exact uninhibited, impulsive personality traits identified during his initial forensic psychiatric profiling evaluations.