The Dayton Legal Heritage Foundation

Another Evening For Justice

Apr 8, 2025

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Victoria Theatre

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Description

Join us for ANOTHER EVENING FOR JUSTICE on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at historic Victoria Theatre in Dayton, featuring special guests Gilbert King and Sister Helen Prejean, author of the best-selling book Dead Man Walking, which was later made into a film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

Hosted by King, Pulitzer Prize winner for Devil in the Grove and creator of the hit true-crime podcast “Bone Valley,” this impactful event will explore Prejean’s journey and work as a leading advocate for abolition of the death penalty.

Following King’s and Prejean’s remarks, Judge Reginald Routson (ret.) of the Hancock County Common Pleas Court will moderate a thought-provoking panel discussion among King, Prejean, and Mark Godsey, Director of the Ohio Innocence Project.

ANOTHER EVENING FOR JUSTICE promises powerful true stories revealing the profound challenges plaguing our criminal justice system.

At the conclusion of the event, those who have purchased a VIP ticket are invited to attend a reception with the event speakers across the street from the Victoria Theatre in the Schuster Center Wintergarden.

This event benefits the Ohio Innocence Project.

About Sister Helen Prejean

Sister Helen Prejean is known around the world for her tireless work against the death penalty. She has been instrumental in sparking national dialogue on capital punishment and in shaping the Catholic Church’s vigorous opposition to all executions. Sister Helen grew up in the segregated Jim Crow South. At the age of 18, she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph and eventually moved into the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans in the early ’80s. It was at this time that she began corresponding with Patrick Sonnier, who was on death row in Louisiana for the murder of two teenagers. When Sonnier was put to death in the electric chair, Sister Helen was there to witness his execution. Not long after, she accompanied another condemned inmate, Robert Willie, to his execution. After witnessing these executions, Sister Helen realized that this lethal ritual would remain unchallenged unless its secrecy was stripped away, and so she sat down and wrote a book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. That book ignited a national debate on capital punishment and spawned an Academy Award winning movie, a play, and an opera. A graphic book of Dead Man Walking is slated for release in 2025.

About Gilbert King

Gilbert King is the writer, producer, and host of “Bone Valley,” a multi-part narrative podcast about murder and injustice in 1980s central Florida, from Lava For Good podcasts. He is the author of three books, most recently, Beneath a Ruthless Sun. His previous book, Devil in the Grove, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2013. A New York Times bestseller, the book was also named runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. King has written about race, civil rights, and the death penalty for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, and he was a 2019-2020 fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars at the New York Public Library. King’s earlier book, The Execution of Willie Francis, was published in 2008.

Age Recommendation

Dayton Live encourages you to research titles and decide what is appropriate for you and your party before tickets are purchased. All audience members must have a ticket, regardless of age. For the consideration of all patrons, children on laps and/or babes in arms are not permitted at most presentations.

Accessibility

We recognize that the heart of an arts organization will always be the people we bring together and experiences we share.

Sign interpretation and/or audio description available upon request. Please let the ticket agent know at least two weeks before the performance if you would like either of these services when you order your tickets from Dayton Live. Please understand that while we will make every effort to make reasonable accommodations, certain requests may not be able to be honored.

For detailed accessibility information, including seating, audio, and sign interpretation please visit our Accessibility page.

Parking

The Arts Garage, on the northwest corner of Second and Ludlow Streets, open for all performances at the Schuster Center and Victoria Theatre. The Arts Garage is owned and operated by Dayton Live, so parking there actually helps support the arts venues used by all our great arts organizations. For more parking information, visit our Directions & Parking page.