Helen Prejean inmates on Death Row and witnessed several more executions. She served as National Chairperson of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1993 to 1995. She published "Dead Man Walking" (1993), an account of her relationship with Sonnier and other inmates on death row, and the factors related to her growing opposition to the death penalty. The book was adapted for a 1995 feature film of the same name; she was portrayed by Susan Sarandon. Her book was also adapted as an opera, first produced in 2000; and as a play. For her book, she drew from her
Dalton Prejean Dalton Prejean Dalton Prejean (December 10, 1959 – May 18, 1990) was an American murderer. He was tried, convicted, and executed by the electric chair in Louisiana for the murder of Louisiana State Police Trooper Donald Cleveland. The case received international attention because the defendant was a black man convicted by an all-white jury; had brain damage and tested just above mental retardation; and was age 17 at the time of the crime. Prejean was the second of four children. When he was two weeks old his parents sent him from their home in Lafayette to live with his aunt