tv [untitled] March 31, 2011 4:30pm-5:00pm EDT
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sam we're now right and we are out of cle i did think that was an interesting quote towards him but then he sector filmmaker and blogger for news director dot org and that is all the time we have thanks so much for watching check out more at r.t. dot com slash usa and christine for that will be back in thirty minutes. there there. that the.
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rachel martin here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. download the official ante up location q i phone on called touch from the i choose i'm still. life on the go. video on demand. old girls and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the call she don't call.
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this is where just twelve years ago i met sean sellers a young man condemned to death his story created a media star all over the world he was my age and i have never forgotten him ever since the night of his execution i have been convinced that the death penalty acts like a poison on all those who participate in it now my aim is to meet all the people aboard involved in the execution of sean sellers.
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this is where sean sellers spent the last thirteen years of his life. the there are cameras and three. thousand three. football players or leave. ok. the last. channel is twenty nine when this interview took place. most people around here in on all this season are there when all they see the chains the warriors cry.
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if all you see is a summer's herzog but. someone is killed somebody. else someone is dangerous there you are the person who did diversity. i don't blame. you said this one. the only people who are relieved really. have. to want to see me did. people ever believe her story is the first one i didn't i was sixteen years old those we'll have a right to hate illegal have a right to be angry with me those people have a right to good if i ever hurt you like he did.
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when he was sixteen shawn murdered his mother vonda and his step father leave. their birds here in eastern oklahoma. us to him . i found some archive footage on this tragedy at the local t.v. station. one night while vonda and lee were sleeping in the home shown shot them with his stepfather scum he has always claimed that he committed this crime while under the power of an uncontrollable force.
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when the teenager was arrested he admitted the double murder and confessed to another crime. six months before he walked into a convenience store with an accomplice and shot dead a cashier. he was only fifteen at the time. is accomplice in the convenience store shooting was also arrested richard was shawn's friend uncouth boys were obsessed with satanism. the two teenagers would tell the police that they killed the grocer just to see what it would feel like.
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richard accepted to testify against shown in exchange for a lighter sentence. when mrs evidence even shown sellars own confession everything was in place for a trial but the legal system was hesitant should this teenager be judged as an adult fully conscious of his acts. shawn's court appointed lawyer presented as evidence psychological evaluations that diagnosed severe personality disorders in the defendant. but the prosecutor was adamant in demanding the death sentence. figure through a tragedy in states a sixteen yo when he commits a crime to be put. in
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one thousand nine hundred seven sean sellers was sentenced to death and first became the youngest person can vamps to death in the united states in the past fifty years. over the thirteen years following his sentencing shawn grew up an adult in the macalister penitentiary and he's half buried buildings the cells which are underground have no natural light. as the years pass seans lawyers try in vain to get a retrial. psychiatrist him to have brought to light psychological disorders that
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were on no one of the time of the trial shown now adults writes books attacking the cold as it. sees thousands of letters and maintains correspondence with hundreds of teenagers. when i met him thirteen years after his condemnation it exhausted all legal recourse. we deliberately. came. to the streets to believe. that they could.
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three days after meeting sean i sit in on my clemency hearing that takes place in this small chapel near the penitentiary. is jones' last chance to have his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. steve presson shown new lawyer is working day and night to prevent the execution. the five members of the jury selection by the state governor are to offer recommendations as to whether or not sean sellers should be pardoned. if. in the end the governor makes the decision on his own activists like hence the
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death penalty and friends of show our president to ask but his life be spared. to me the state. signifies whether mayor. will grant mercy or dinners and after they always show. the first ones i have for ten years. all of my is one should be great to see. and if he is denied mercy i feel it is justice. here for our state yes just i think it's ok to murder a sixteen year old. person. for something. i hear here for what it's go we're not the wild wild west it's time to realize that there are better ways to handle this and to execute the experience.
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knowing the rest of the world thinks. once on sowers of turning under your burden no man should ever have to shoulder another month early in life. and as you know sean was sixteen years old when he committed these murders that's not to say that song sellers should not be punished for his crimes sean is being no rational person can deny that each day for the last thirteen years draw a slope on a concrete slab just inches from a metal toilet in a windowless room smaller than most of our own closets there he spends twenty three hours a day off and twenty four and if he's not executing old will spend the rest of his life in just such an existence and that better than the boy gave his victims many so not but no one can credibly argue that a critism man is not a national sean has been punished is being punished and will be punished.
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i ask you about clemency if not now where. not so it's a good on sellers. is on and dark. that's not the throw very dark on that road it's a fine and the police don't extinguish them on. you. during the hearings the families of the victims get to say their piece. the parents and children of leave belafonte to shawn stepfather are here to demand that the execution be carried out.
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among them or lorna know well at least son and daughter. i'm here to guy. just become a father for almost thirteen years. allowed to just this. and their courts. and now after all this time we are shocked to find ourselves in your presence clinging to you throughout the deaths. of song hours to go forward and executed. the execution of sellers will not bring my father back or monster mother it can
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i don't think you will live with it. i'm not so listen to that not making a simple one. try in time to keep on. in this type of hearing the jury does not protect deliberating the verdict is announced directly. this time. i'll call on each member of the board alphabetically for their. bragging rights now. i'll skip my.
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final worth now on my list now. this time the clemency hearing for sean sellers is a term. for. this. sean is dead. for the state of oklahoma because his being closed for a long time. but for all those who witnessed his execution and life is going on. now twelve years later i'm going to meet with one of the witnesses of the execution in this nature reserve in the eastern part of the state.
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i think clemency hearing lauren belafonte son of leave asked that sean be executed lauren is a true man of the south he. has always been in favor of capital punishment. i didn't decide to punish and see that you've got to remember that twelve other people decided that was his punishment that was a fitting punishment for climate committed. because i happen to agree with it it is a side subject that's that's. that's good for me.
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it well bella fodder lauren sister lives in the town of lawton and center of oklahoma. she also waited thirteen years impatiently for shown to be executed. oklahoma the families of victims have the right to view the execution. well and her family came to the penitentiary to watch shawn being put to death. if.
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he was struck down to a table with his arms out to his side and they had run an i.v. which was how they were going to. commit the execution it was lethal injection it was all to. it was altered intravenously he was prepped and ready to gallon line down and the warden was in there and some doctor. saw a few prison guards i believe there was no fear he was happy again it seemed like and that to me was totally hated my friend perhaps saved came to terms with his fate he gets a list of everyone who's there to ending his execution both for his guests in the prison and his family members
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and the victim's family members it's a it's the only opportunity you're going to have to go see my crotch and he didn't get away with all he now worry that. i had reached a point where i guess i did humanized him and i had to for my own peace of mind i had to look at him for what he was a killer. around on a particular beverage on through. it was painless for him he didn't suffer he was
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son's coming execution. he sent them a video message from california. they'll think go to the future for. certain in terms of its kind of thirteenth day of. i just can't get back there. i don't think i could almost have the. honor if we stay one of the do this. lucky i'm talking to you or this this way to communicate because they're hurting. a lot of you who wish they would revert. could by.
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the execution was a terrible ordeal for sean's grandfather jim wonders father. jim often took care of the little boy when his mother was out on the road. i met jim twelve years ago when i came here the first time it was a few days before the execution. jim had already lost his daughter vonda and now the state was about to put his only ground some to death. he's still migraines are. they still moderates or. i would say it's going to affect me one way or the other when they put in today
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a third of. the weather. is going to show terror my good self. put the show to death or not go bring that man sir i will regularly back. you know what was your reaction when i ask you we just. i just really so well. how cruel can you be really. so real so to came to my mind. i hated that chance effort. because i would stand. it was always gets me. as a child i really liked him. and i hated that he i mean he was so. broken
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