Prejean joined faith leaders at the governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge for a prayer vigil and to repeat Christian teaching that says all life is sacred.

“The talk was about possible mercy,” Prejean said about her visit with Edwards, adding that “the only avenue for mercy is through the governor’s office and the clemency that can happen.”   

In Texas, meanwhile, lawyers for Will Speer asked Gov. Greg Abbott and the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute his death sentence to life in prison or to grant a 180-day reprieve.

As in Louisiana, a diverse group, which included faith leaders, have called on Abbott to spare Speer’s life. Speer is set to be executed on Oct. 26.

“Mr. Speer has carried out a true life of faith in prison,” said Speer’s lawyer Amy Fly. “He ministers to others and carries a message of hope and healing. If he is allowed to live the rest of his days in prison, he aims to be of service as a minister and peacemaker.”

The plea came as a Texas man who had unsuccessfully challenged the safety of the state’s lethal injection drugs and raised questions about evidence used to persuade a jury to sentence him to death for killing an elderly woman decades ago was executed.

Jedidiah Murphy, 48, was pronounced dead on Tuesday after an injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the October 2000 fatal shooting of 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham just outside Dallas. Cunningham was killed during a carjacking.

“I hope this helps, if possible, give you closure,” Murphy said.

Murphy, who is Jewish, also recited Psalm 34, which ends with: “The Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who trust in him shall be condemned.”

“I wake up to my crime daily and I’ve never gone a day without sincere remorse for the hurt I’ve caused,” Murphy wrote in a message earlier this year he sent to Michael Zoosman, who had corresponded with Murphy and is co-founder of L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty.

Lawyers who represent Speer have made a different argument. They point out that Speer, 48, is a changed man.

Speer is one of only 28 participants in the first class of a new Faith Based Program offered to men who are on death row in Texas. The program is by application only and those accepted into the program must have a perfect disciplinary records.

One of 187 inmates currently on death row in Texas, Speer was previously given a life sentence in 1991 after being convicted of murder. On July 11, 1997, while serving that sentence at the Telford Unit in Bowie County, Speer strangled to death a 47-year-old inmate and was subsequently placed on death row in 2001.

Speer was baptized last year and, according to his clemency application, wrote that he now “lives life by a simple but profound ethos: ‘How can I be a man of integrity? How can I lead a righteous life?’” He has since been named the program’s inmate coordinator.

Support for Speer includes evangelical leaders. A dozen — including Kelly Rosati, CEO of KMR Consulting and several Texas-based pastors — signed a letter supporting Speer’s application. In the two-page letter, they described how the “experience of becoming a Christian radically changed Will’s daily life.”

For Christians, Prejean said being for life isn’t limited to abortion.

“We stand for life,” she said. “Louisiana is a pro-life state. Being pro-life doesn’t just mean abortion. Pro-life is about the life of prisoners.”