蜜桃APP

蜜桃APP alumna Monique Morrison optioned both the 蜜桃APP book rights and the story rights related to a death penalty case researched by Professor of Research Cecile Guin, former director of the 蜜桃APP Social Research and Evaluation Center, in the late 鈥�90s. The book comes out April 16 with Bloomsbury.

Multiple events are planned for April 7, 2026, on 蜜桃APP鈥檚 main campus in celebration of the book release, including a ; ; ; and , all on the theme of .

 

There are two versions of this story.

In the first, a Black man named Feltus Taylor is neglected and abandoned as an infant by a drug-addicted mother in and out of prison. He suffers severe developmental delays, gets bullied and taken advantage of, commits an inexcusable and horrific act of violence, and is sentenced to death. While on death row, he writes a manuscript about his own life to help other young men, inspires fellow inmates, and gains the support of two local churches鈥攐ne Baptist, one Episcopalian鈥攁s well as lifelong friends around the world.
 
In the second, a Black man named Feltus Taylor is a murderer. He shot and killed Donna Ponsano, the cook at the Cajun鈥檚 Fabulous Fried Chicken restaurant on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge, from which he鈥檇 recently been fired. He also shot and permanently injured the manager, Keith Clark, before driving off with a few hundred dollars in cash from the register.

蜜桃APP Professor of Research Cecile Guin knows both of these versions are true. As the former director of the 蜜桃APP Social Research and Evaluation Center (1996-2018), she worked on 115 death penalty mitigation cases as an independent expert, researching the lives of the accused to help explain to the juries why they did what they did.

鈥淒oing forensic social work histories means developing a life story, but it鈥檚 done in a manner that鈥檚 objective, completely factual, and honest,鈥� Guin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like you can take some good things and leave the bad things out. You have to pull all of the stuff into it and tell the story of how that person got to that place in their life.鈥�

For Feltus Taylor鈥檚 case alone, Guin and her team tracked down hundreds of records鈥攆rom schools and juvenile institutions, medical records, birth records, and court records. She and Jane Smith, a colleague and fellow alumna of 蜜桃APP鈥檚 Master of Social Work program with whom she鈥檇 graduated in 1978, interviewed family members and spent hundreds of hours with Feltus Taylor while he was on death row at Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola), the only maximum-security prison in the state. For years, Taylor mailed handwritten letters to Guin鈥檚 office on a weekly basis, where student workers typed them up and added the hard copies to an increasingly thick binder. Eventually, Guin and Taylor鈥檚 legal team helped create a foundation to safeguard his intellectual property.

Faith was a big part of Taylor鈥檚 life and writing in prison, and Guin ended up hiring an 蜜桃APP graduate student, Ronlyn Domingue (now an author), to help shape his manuscript and make sure he shared all aspects of his story.

Then, at 39 years old in the summer of 2000, Feltus Taylor was executed by lethal injection. His lawyer and spiritual advisor were in the room with him, while Guin stayed outside.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to go to Feltus鈥檚 execution,鈥� Guin remembered. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to see him die. And it worked out in a way, because when you witness an execution, you have to go into the room early, well ahead of time, while I was able to sit outside with him until the moment he walked in.鈥�

Guin can recount many 鈥渟trange stories,鈥� as she calls them, about Feltus Taylor鈥檚 impact on others while on death row. Her own sister ended up corresponding with Taylor and adopting his younger next-cell neighbor, Jimmy Williams, who鈥檇 been 16 or 17 when he was convicted and never went to high school. Today, Williams is no longer on death row but remains incarcerated. He earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree in Christian ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2019 and is now working on an HVAC certification to ease employment after he is released. Taylor also willed his personal Bible鈥攐riginally a gift from his second spiritual advisor, Charles deGravelles鈥攖o Guin鈥檚 sister. And one of Taylor鈥檚 first defense lawyers, Bonnie Jackson, who is a retired district court judge in East Baton Rouge Parish, gave the eulogy for his funeral.

Over time, through her work researching the life histories of death row inmates, Guin built a complex theoretical framework around the different pathways that can affect how not just Feltus Taylor, but anyone, might go through life, including physical factors, mental factors, environment, substance abuse, family background, social connections, money, and education.

鈥淲orking on these death penalty cases was great training for the social workers at 蜜桃APP,鈥� Guin said. 鈥淵ou can learn an awful lot. About humanity and grace鈥攁nd about racism, for sure. Discrimination, poverty. I don鈥檛 think anyone who worked on Feltus鈥檚 case wasn鈥檛 a changed person from the experience.鈥�

鈥淏ut it鈥檚 a difficult field,鈥� she continued. 鈥淏ecause in about 80 percent of the cases, you find out these are good people who did bad things鈥攑eople who could have been saved somewhere along the way鈥攁nd the crime came down to circumstances.鈥�

To this day, Feltus Taylor was the only person whose death penalty mitigation case Guin worked on who was executed. After his death, Guin continued to collect his records, receiving previous correspondence from many of his pen pals around the world.

The foreword of Feltus Taylor鈥檚 book was written by Sister Helen Prejean, his first spiritual advisor, who is a leading advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and author of the book Dead Man Walking (1993), which was made into a feature film.

Once Taylor鈥檚 manuscript was finalized, Guin expected a sense of relief that never came. Instead, the book project 鈥渄rove us crazy.鈥�

鈥淔or years, I鈥檇 wake up in the middle of the night, thinking, 鈥業鈥檝e got to get something done with this book,鈥欌�� Guin remembers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big responsibility, making a commitment to someone to get their story told and then constantly holding it on the back burner. The book market was saturated after Dead Man Walking. We didn鈥檛 know what to do. Also, it took years before I had anything close to a healthy psychological response to Feltus鈥檚 death.鈥�

Into Guin鈥檚 蜜桃APP office in 2001 came a bright-eyed student from Louisiana named Monique Morrison who was working toward her bachelor鈥檚 degree in broadcast journalism. As a student worker, she ended up working with Guin on several research presentations, impressing Guin with her energy and creative knack for visual communication and storytelling. Just weeks before Morrison was about to graduate from 蜜桃APP in 2003, Guin handed her a thick binder and said, 鈥淚 know you are moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. This is the story of a very dear client of mine. Whatever you can do to tell his story, it鈥檚 yours.鈥�

Morrison was surprised. She understood Guin was handing her something important but didn鈥檛 know what to do with it at the time鈥攕he was moving to California to become an actress.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have much experience in the world of developing a story into a film or TV project at that time鈥攎y main focus was on my acting career,鈥� Morrison recalls. 鈥淚 took the binder with me to California and kept it under my bed in my tiny, little studio apartment. Then one day, and I remember this so well, I felt a sort of nudge to pull it out. When I started reading it, I got chills all over my body and thought to myself, 鈥榃hat is this?!鈥欌��

When the film and television writers鈥� strike happened in 2007, Morrison saw it as an opportunity to take a break from acting and focus full-time on Feltus鈥檚 story.

At first, like Guin, Morrison had no idea what to do with Feltus Taylor鈥檚 life story. But she felt responsible for telling it, to 鈥渃arry the torch,鈥� which led her toward screenwriting and producing. It took her more than a decade to secure both the book rights (co-owned by 蜜桃APP and the Feltus Taylor Foundation) and the story rights (owned by the Feltus Taylor Foundation) since it wasn鈥檛 clear at the time if any of Taylor鈥檚 adopted or biological relatives could claim ownership.
  
Now, Feltus鈥檚 writings, shaped by Morrison, are finally ready to reach new and wider audiences as a book and audiobook, which come out on April 16 with Bloomsbury, a worldwide publisher headquartered in London.

鈥淚n the current context, Feltus鈥檚 story has become so much bigger. Now more than ever, I want to tell his story.鈥�

Monique Morrison, 蜜桃APP alumna

Sometimes people wonder why Morrison has spent over 20 years developing a project about a killer.

鈥淣obody鈥檚 arguing Feltus鈥檚 crime鈥攈e committed the crime,鈥� Morrison acknowledged. 鈥淭he moment he pulled that trigger, he became a murderer. He never denied that. But good people do bad things鈥� One of the questions I keep coming back to is, does the worst thing you ever did define who you are? That鈥檚 something we should really think about before we鈥檙e so quick to point the finger. Nothing鈥檚 really black and white. There鈥檚 lots of grey, and the more you know about a person, the harder it becomes to judge. Only once you walk the path someone else has traveled and lived their sorrows, doubts, fear, and pain can you start to understand.鈥�

For Guin, it鈥檚 a relief that Feltus Taylor鈥檚 story is finally getting the attention she feels it deserves.

鈥淔eltus gave me hope, and it鈥檚 good to be reminded of that,鈥� Guin said. 鈥淭o think someone with Feltus鈥檚 background could be restored is just amazing. He was a remarkable human being. A person can turn around and be the best they can be鈥攎aybe the best anybody can be鈥攁nd what we all aspire to. Feltus helped me mature. He pushed me to continue my doctoral research on pathways into crime, and that also gave me respite. I needed proper boundaries, and Feltus helped me deal with some of the problems I鈥檇 had separating the sadness I felt with some clients through the years with the need to empower them. He made my work more bearable. After Feltus, I felt there was nothing else in life that could go wrong that I wouldn鈥檛 be able to handle.鈥�

A version of this story was originally published by 蜜桃APP in 2020.