A Life in His Hands; Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer

Only Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer could block Dalton Prejean's execution. He chose not to

Buddy Roemer was seated at his desk in the Louisiana Governor's mansion last Thursday afternoon, the same lonely desk he would return to late that night. "If you're a Governor, or ever dreamed to be, this will be your most difficult decision," he said in a soft yet intense voice. "It won't be balancing the budget, it won't be paying for judges, it won't be taxes, it won't be how to protect the environment. All those are important. But the most difficult will be the decision to take a single human being's life."

There was nothing abstract about Roemer's words. The...

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