This week 1984

To the stepfather and mother of his victim:
“I would just like to say, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey, that I hope you get some relief from my death. Killing people is wrong. That’s why you’ve put me to death. It makes no difference whether it’s citizens, countries or governments. Killing is wrong.”

He then asked the warden to remove his hood and winked at Sister Helen Prejean, his spiritual adviser.

— Robert Lee Willie, convicted of murder, electric chair, Louisiana.
Executed December 28, 1984

Sister Helen Prejean wrote her book Dead Man Walking about Willie and Elmo Patrick Sonnier, and they were the basis for a composite character played by Sean Penn in the film adaptation of the book.

Prejean became spiritual adviser to both men when they were imprisoned for their crimes: Willie was convicted of raping and murdering an eighteen-year-old woman. Sonnier was convicted of murdering a teenage couple in New Iberia and was executed at an earlier date.