Elmo Patrick Sonnier illness, at Louisiana State Prison . He is buried in the prison cemetery. Sister Helen Prejean published a book, "Dead Man Walking" (1993), about her relationship with Elmo Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie, another inmate on Death Row whom she counseled. The book was adapted as a 1995 film of the same name directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon as Sister Prejean and Sean Penn as Matthew Poncelett, an amalgam of Sonnier and Willie. Her book was also adapted as an opera of the same name, first produced in 2000 by the San Francisco Opera. Elmo Patrick Sonnier
Elmo Patrick Sonnier Eddie Sonnier was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole because he was a minor at the time of the crime. While on death row at Louisiana State Prison, Elmo Sonnier was contacted by an outreach effort setting up communication with inmates on Death Row. Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun, was assigned to him. After they started a correspondence, she began to visit him and became his spiritual adviser. He was the first of many death row inmates whom she counseled. Sr. Prejean subsequently became a nationally prominent anti-death penalty activist. Sister Helen Prejean later said