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.