Sister Helen Prejean testifies at the clemency hearing for death row inmate Robert Lee Willie. He was the inspiration for the film Dead Man Walking. A court clerk involved in the case later said Willie had an uncanny resemblance to the actor who played him, Sean Penn (Louisiana, 1984) [1005 x 782].

>Jo Anne Smith, who works in the criminal division for the Washington Parish Clerk of Court, attended almost every hour of Robert Willie’s murder trial in October, 1980. Seeing Sean Penn in the movie, she said, took her right back to those days in the small basement courtroom. Sean Penn is physically bigger than Willie, but otherwise, the similarity was almost frightening. “Remember in the movie when he makes that motion like he’s slitting his throat?” Smith asked as we looked around the now-empty courtroom.

The director had to MASSIVELY tone down how horrible Willie was in the movie to make his character, Matthew Poncelet, more compelling. In real life, [Robert Lee Willie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lee_Willie) was a serial killer who’d participated in at least three and up to six murders. He left a seven victim partially paralyzed. In the movie, the accomplice of the character main, Carl Vitello, received a life sentence for second degree murder since he could afford a better lawyer. In real life, the accomplice, Joseph Jesse Vaccaro, had a public defender. He was convicted of first degree murder, but spared execution by a holdout juror. A combination of not just luck, but evidence that Willie was the prime mover in the murder, that led to this decision.

>Although aggravated homicide is a capital offense in Louisiana, the death penalty is not mandatory. Some believe Vaccaro received a life sentence because Willie, not Vaccaro, took the lead. Contrary to what Helen Prejean writes in her book based on her death row conversations with Willie, Debbie Morris testified that Willie was clearly in charge. “Joe was so brain dead from drugs, he couldn’t figure anything out,” Debbie told us. “There’s no question in my mind that Willie was in charge.”

This is before even mentioning that again, Willie was a serial killer who had murdered as many as five other people. He was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood and [expressed his admiration for Hitler](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-town-talk/124921402/). He was so cartoonishly evil and so devoid of any redeeming qualities whatsoever that it’s odd how, of all people, he was chosen for the film.

>In addition to the murder trial, for which he received the death penalty, Willie also had to stand trial for the kidnapping and rape charges. In November 1980, in a state court in Baton Rouge, the prosecution presented its case against the pair, forcing Debbie, then a high school junior, to testify once again about her horrible experience. Then, surprising even their own court appointed attorneys, Willie and Vaccaro admitted their guilt, saying, “Yea, we’re guilty. We just wanted to put y’all through this.” They were each sentenced to four consecutive life sentences.