Dead Man Walking Page #5

We gotta get us a funeral home

and someplace to bury him.

Maybe our sisters will donate

one of their burial plots.

Somebody to do the burial service.

Clothes.

I guess a suit.

Suit?

What size suit do you think he wears?

I don't know.

How tall is he?

I don't know.

I think he's kind of big.

What size is kind of big?

Does it run like big,

medium and petite?

Well, I don't know. I never bought

a man's suit before.

Won't you be a pretty sight?

A nun shopping for a man's suit.

I'm out of my league.

This is so surreal.

Hope had just graduated

from high school in early May.

She was to join the Air Force

on June 15th.

That's the day it happened.

She almost got out of Slidell.

She was hoping

to get stationed overseas.

She liked to travel...

...and loved being around people

of different cultures.

On June 15th, a recruiting sergeant

was to meet Hope in Slidell...

...and drive her to Baton Rouge

for induction.

The day before, I took her shopping

for things she'd need...

...you know, just practical things.

That evening at 5:00 she dressed...

...and went to work

at Corey's where she waitressed.

After work, she had a date

with Walter.

She was about to leave...

The hem of her skirt was coming out.

She was in such a hurry.

I pinned it for her with one

of those tiny safety pins.

She was gone out the door.

You don't know when you see

your child leave...

... that you're never gonna

see them alive again.

If I'd known that...

...I would have told her

how much I love her.

You know, my last words to her...

...the last that she ever heard

from me...

...were about the hem of her skirt.

Next morning we waited

for her to come out.

This was Hope's big day.

Our baby was leaving home.

Her room was empty...

...and the bed was still neatly made.

So I telephoned the Delacroixs and...

Our hearts sank

when the Delacroixs told us...

...that Walter hadn't come home

that night too.

And then for one brief moment

we thought...

...maybe they'd run off

and gotten married.

But we knew that she was just too

sensible to do something like that.

I went down to the police and

filled out a missing person's form.

Three days later the sheriff

formed a search party.

I went along with them.

They were gone all day.

They walked for miles and nothing.

On Thursday, June 20th...

...some kids were out

near Flank's Cove...

...and they found a purse

and some clothing and a wallet.

They turned them in to the police.

They found the kids' bodies

on Friday...

...six days after they'd gone missing.

My daughter's body was nude...

...legs spread-eagle.

Coroner's report said

that her vagina was all tore up.

At first they couldn't find

this class pin she was wearing...

...because it was embedded so deep,

from the stabbing.

She loved that pin.

She was so proud of it,

and she wore it all the time.

It said, "Class of '88

making a difference."

The police wouldn't let us go down

to the morgue and identify the body.

They said it would be too traumatic.

But I just couldn't...

...bear the thought

of them burying that body...

...without making absolutely and

positively sure that that was Hope.

I called my brother, he's a dentist.

I asked him to go

to the funeral home...

...and make an I.D. from dental records.

Before he'd stuck his hand

into that bag...

...with all that lime in it

and fished Hope's jaw out...

...he'd been against

the death penalty.

And after that, he was all for it.

I knew it had to be Hope.

That's what my mind told me, you know,

but I just, I had to be sure.

- This is Sister Helen Prejean.

- Hello.

- Nice to meet you, Emily.

- Okay.

Okay.

Let's go in the kitchen.

I'll make us some coffee.

I met Poncelet face to face

in the hallway during the trial.

I ain't gonna get no chair, Daddy.

You're gonna fry,

and I'm gonna watch you sizzle.

There was a sheriff standing

pretty close by me.

I could have grabbed his gun and shot

Poncelet right then and there.

I could've killed him on that day,

and I wished I would have.

I'd be a happier man today.

So, what made you change your mind?

Change my mind?

What made you come around to our side?

I wanted to come and see if I could

help y'all and pray with you.

Thank you.

But he asked me to be his spiritual

adviser, to be with him when he dies.

And what did you say?

That I would.

We thought you'd changed your mind.

We thought that's why you were here.

No.

- How can you come here?

- How can you do that?

How can you sit with that scum?

Mr. Percy, I've never done

this before.

I'm trying...

I'm trying to follow

the example of Jesus...

...who said that every person

is worth...

...more than their worst act.

This is not a person.

This is an animal.

No, I take that back. Animals don't

rape and murder their own kind!

Matthew Poncelet is God's mistake.

And you want to hold

the poor murderer's hand?

You want to comfort him when he dies?

There wasn't anybody in the woods

to comfort Hope...

...when those two animals pushed

her face into the grass!

I just want to help him take

responsibility for what he did.

Does he admit to what he did?

Is he sorry?

He says he didn't kill anybody.

You're in waters way over your head.

You don't know what

it's like to carry a child...

...and give birth and get up with a

sick child in the middle of the night.

You pray and get a good night's sleep.

My parents raised me

to respect the religious.

Sister, you need to leave

this house right now.

I'm--

Wait a minute!

If you really are sorry...

...and do care about this family...

...you'll want to see justice done

for our murdered child!

Now, you can't have it both ways!

You can't befriend that murderer

and expect to be our friend too.

You brought the enemy into this house,

Sister. You gotta go.

I come from a good family.

My family can't be blamed.

I had two families.

Both of them I'd love and die for.

- Your other family is...?

- The family of man. Of men in prison.

My white family,

the Aryan Brotherhood.

You're a white supremacist?

A follower of Hitler?

He was a leader. I admire him

for getting things done.

Like Castro, he got things done.

Hitler might have gone overboard

on the killing...

...but he was on the right track.

The right track?

The murder of 6 million Jews?

What am I doing with this guy?

I must be nuts.

- Hello?

- Sister? It's Hilton Barber.

We need you

for a strategy meeting.

"In an interview with the Times...

...Poncelet says that

if he had to do it again...

...he'd do something useful

like join a terrorist group...

...and bomb government buildings."

We must get him off

this political prisoner kick.

Henry, how close are we

on the Supreme Court docket?

- In a couple of days.

- We don't have a couple of days!

- We don't have the legal staff.

- You had it for three days.

- Where were you yesterday?

- I had to take my kid to the dentist.

A man is gonna die on death row and--

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