Nun to speak out against death penalty at Ohio college

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A Roman Catholic nun who’s been a prominent death-penalty opponent will speak at a southwest Ohio college this month.

The lecture Thursday by Sister Helen Prejean at University of Dayton is among a series of events about the death penalty. The author of “Dead Man Walking” will have a book signing afterward. Her book was made into an Oscar-winning 1995 movie of the same name starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

She also plans an open forum with university students and to have lunch with local religious leaders and select students.

Dayton Opera is putting on the opera version of the story, with Prejean to attend the Friday performance.

Ohio executions are on hold until 2016 while the state tries to find supplies of lethal-injection drugs.