Dalton Prejean

Dalton Prejean (December 10, 1959 – May 18, 1990) was one of 22 people in the United States executed for crimes committed as a juvenile prior to the decision Roper v. Simmons in 2005. He was tried, convicted, and executed in the electric chair in Louisiana for the murder of Louisiana State Police Trooper Donald Cleveland. Prejean, then 17, committed this murder shortly after his release from juvenile detention for murdering a cab driver during a botched robbery when he was 14. Prejean was the first juvenile offender to be executed after Stanford v. Kentucky, which initially confirmed the death penalty for juvenile offenders who were at least 16 years old.

The case received international attention because Prejean was black, was convicted by an all-white jury, had brain damage, was borderline intellectually disabled, and was 17 at the time of the murder.

Prejean's son, Dalton Prejean Jr., born while his father was awaiting execution, himself went to prison for the 2001 murder of his 14-month old stepson. Prejean Jr., who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and two counts of child cruelty is currently serving a 60-year sentence, with parole eligibility in 40 years, at the same prison where his father was executed.

Background 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 and uncle in Houston, Texas. Dalton was unaware of his true parentage until the age of eleven. When Dalton's father left his mother and moved to Houston, the aunt decided that Dalton had to be told that he was not her child. Around this time, he began creating problems of an unknown nature, and was sent to live with his mother in Lafayette.

A psychiatric evaluation of Dalton was performed in 1974. He was found to be intellectually limited and to have very poor judgment. Dalton was diagnosed as having borderline intellectual disability, and it was questionable if he knew the difference between right and wrong. The psychiatrist considered the boy to be "a definite danger to himself and others, and his dream content suggests that it is a matter of accident that the cab driver was killed rather than the boy being killed. He is equally likely to get himself killed in the near future." The psychiatrist therefore recommended a lengthy confinement, followed by transfer to permanent facilities. The juvenile courts had jurisdiction over the defendant until he was 21. The doctor's recommendation would have served to keep the Prejean confined until December 10, 1980.

The appeal reached the US Supreme Court in 1990; in November 1989 it had granted a stay on the eve of his scheduled execution. On April 17, 1990, the Court lifted the stay without comment. The European Parliament called for commutation of the sentence and a review of the evidence. A representative for Amnesty International said, "I doubt that in documented recent world history there is an execution [with] such a pile of reasons not to do it."

Citing his age, abusive upbringing, below average intellect, remorse, and good prison record, the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 3-2 to recommend that Prejean's sentence be commuted to life in prison. This gave Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, who could intervene with the support of the board, the option to grant clemency. Roemer described the decision as the most difficult one of his career. Ultimately, Roemer declined to spare Prejean on the grounds that his victim had been a police officer. Hall also spoke with the Governor by phone just after Roemer said goodbye to Prejean. "Roemer did say that he would not be able to sleep at all tonight," the attorney recounted. "But before I could react to what he said, the Governor quickly added, 'Of course, the person having a terrible time tonight was Dalton.'"