One night in 2005, I sat in a church in Texas listening to a lecture by Helen Prejean, the prominent opponent of capital punishment. Her book about her work among death row inmates had been made into the film "Dead Man Walking."

Mostly, Prejean was preaching to the choir. She talked convincingly about the brutality and futility of capital punishment, a message that most of her audience probably already believed. One could sense their agreement.

But as soon as Prejean finished describing her opposition to the death penalty and invited questions, a young woman in the row directly behind me stood up and faced the audience. She held a picture of her sister, a beautiful girl who had been one of at least five victims of a serial killer. Her murderer was still on death row.

The young woman described the torture and murder of her sister, as well as the........

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