Providence Sr. Barbara Battista, holds a photo taken during her last visit with Keith Dwayne Nelson, who was executed at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, Aug. 28, 2020. Battista was Nelson s spiritual adviser and was present as he was executed. (AP/Michael Conroy)
Sr. Barbara Battista wasn t in prison ministry and didn t visit the men incarcerated at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, like other Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
But she was outspoken, and that s what Keith Dwayne Nelson wanted.
It was July 2020, and Nelson was scheduled to be the fifth person executed in a spree of 13 carried out by President Donald Trump and his attorney general, William Barr, between July 14, 2020, and Jan. 16, 2021.