brings you up to date for the moment i'll be back with more developments for you in less than half from. it's a special report and we look at life after the death penalty in the u.s. . south of the united states of america oklahoma. this road leads to macalister penitentiary which houses prisoners condemned to death.

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 the people of born volved in the execution of sean sellers.

this is where sean sellers spent the last thirteen years of his life. ever cameras in theory. if thousand three. hundred dollars or a little we. took a. year. china was two. one hundred nine when this interview took place. most people around here you know all the season just ruin all the season chains and wars and crime. so. you know

if all you can see is a summer's herzog. did someone is killed somebody. that someone is dangerous did you with that person did the person deserves to die. and. i don't blame the. exhibit this is what. the only people who really really. have. to want to see me did and people i've heard believe her story the first one i did and i was sixteen years old those people have a right to hate me those people have a right to be angry with me those people have a right to what we did if i ever hurt you why do you want me to die.

when he was sixteen shawn murdered his mother vonda and his step father leave. their birds here in eastern oklahoma. i found some. tragedy at the local t.v. station. or sleeping in their home. he committed this crime while under the power of an uncontrollable force.

when the teenager was arrested. 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. his accomplice in the convenience store shooting was arrested richard. would tell the police that they killed just to see what it would feel like.

richard accepted to testify in exchange for a lighter sentence. as evidence even. confession. was in place for a trial but the legal system was hesitant. to point of. evidence psychological evaluations that diagnosed severe personality disorders in the defendant. but the prosecutor was adamant in demanding the death sentence. think it's rather tragedy that in the united states a sixteen year old when he commits a crime to be put to death. in

one thousand nine hundred seven sean sellers was sentenced to death and first became the youngest person condemned to death in the united states in the past fifty years. over the thirteen years following his sentencing sean grew up an adult in the macalister penitentiary. in these half buried buildings the cells which are underground have no natural light. as the years pass shawn's lawyers try in vain to get a retrial. psychiatrists claim to have brought to light psychological disorders

that were on no one at the time of the trial shown now in adults writes books attacking occultism received thousands of letters and maintains correspondence with hundreds of teenagers. when i met him thirteen years after his condemnation get exhausted all legal recourse. to whatever it is hear it. i gave her it was for the strings to believe it oh it's here it is you know. i think i'm good i am curious to.

three days after meeting sean i sit in on the clemency hearing that takes place in this small chapel near the penitentiary. is shown as of last chance to have his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. but. steve presson shown new lawyer is working day and night to prevent the execution. the five members of the jury selected by the state governor are to offer recommendations as to whether or not sean sadler should be pardoned.

in the end the governor makes the decision on his own. activists against the death penalty and friends of shown our president to ask but his life be spared. to me this day. signifies whether man. will grant mercy or deny mercy and after knowing a shark. first long as i have for ten years. in all of my being he is one should be granted mercy and if he is denied mercy i feel it is an injustice. and i fear for our state yes decide that it's ok to murder a sixteen year old boy killed a person. or something for a crime they've committed. i i fear fear for a walk in scope we are not the wild wild west it's time to realize. better ways to

handle this. experience is. knowing the rest the world based. on sound sellers attorney as i'm sure you've heard of no man should ever have to shoulder that it. is early human life. as you know sean was sixteen years old when he committed these murders that's not to say that shawn sellers should not be punished for his crimes sean is being punished no rational person can deny that each day for the last thirteen years john and slept 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 often twenty four of these not executed held will spend the rest of his life in just such an existence is it better than what he gave his victims many say not but no one can credibly argue that imprisonment is not punishment sean has been

punished is being punished and will be punished. and i ask you about clemency if not now we're. not showing sellers who on sellers was on a dark. desolate death row very dark on that row dining and. please don't extinguish them on. you. during the hearings the families of the victims get to say their pace. the parents and children of lee belafonte shawn stepfather are here to demand that

the execution be carried out. among them on lauren and the well at least son and daughter. i'm here to guy. just become my father for almost thirteen years my family has remained silent allowed me just the phones and the courts. and now after all this time we are shocked to find ourselves here in your presence clinging to you throughout the deaths. of song sellers to go forward and

executed. the execution of sellers will not bring my father bad or monster mother. and can never fill the void in my life. but sellers must be executed for the brutal crime who committed this is a punishment this is not nothing. the convention is allowed fifteen minutes to played his case.

they are to grow bored with how we can behave. that. way. and something of what you heard today and. not heard. another. imagine. what i say today. because you have been immersed know me whatsoever. and i didn't come here to ask for justice. came here today for mercy.

i don't think you will live with it if. i'm not. so allusion to that i think that i've made up of people's lives. i have to try in trying and i have to keep on from. in this type of hearing the jury does not retire to deliberate the verdict is announced directly. this time. i will call each member of the board alphabetically i don't plan breckenridge now. i'll step mother at this time ruby

smith. ronald more than you know and my thought is now. the song. this time the clemency hearing. it's. shown is dead. for the state of oklahoma the case is being closed for a long time. but for all those who witnessed his execution life has gone. 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. at the clemency hearing. some of lee belafonte 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 the punishment see that's you've got to remember that twelve other people decided that was his punishment that was a fitting punishment for the crime he committed because i happen to agree with it. is a side subject that's that's. that's

good for me. to her well belafonte lauren sister lives in the town of lawton in the center of oklahoma. she also waited certain years and patiently for shown to be executed. oklahoma the families of victims have the right to view the execution. and her family came to the penitentiary to watch shawn being put to death. if.

he was strapped 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 and it was lethal injection that was all done through it was altered intravenously he was prepped and ready to go when land aaron and the warden was in there and some doctor and. so a few prison guards i believe there was no fear he was happy to go it seemed like and that to me it was totally conceivable he didn't like afraid perhaps he had come to terms with his fate he gets a list of everyone who. has an execution. both

. his guests in the prison the guests and his family members and the victims' family members. it's the only opportunity you're going to have to go see i got you he didn't get away with it now worry that i've raised 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 it was a killer. i don't think i could have ever gone through. it was painless for him. for he was

like an animal like euthanize a darker cat but it was actually probably far more humane. realize that the execution would also claim other victims family.

shuns biological father who had abandoned him when he was two heard about his son's coming execution. he sent him a video message from california. there are take a good look for. her and make sure this is kind of certain if they have. i just can't get back there to feel perfectly. i don't think i could almost have the. honor of. stable enough to do this. lucky i'm talking to you or this this or to communicate with me i can't i can't stand. a love you wish things were different. good bye.

the execution was a terrible ordeal for sean's grandfather jim 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 still. they still. i would

love to say it's going to affect a world where the other when they put him to death. but no better. it's going to go to good. put a show there they're not going to bring that man sir i don't believe. you know what was your reaction when i was just. i just really so we'll. have cruel can you be really. has the right to claim the woman. i hated that janet's effort. because i lived chan. and was i was good to me. as a child i really liked him. and i hated that he i mean he was so. broken

and a committee hearing i couldn't bear to look at. sean's grandfather died shortly after the execution. download the official delegation to go on the phone or pod touch from the choose outs to. life on the go. video on demand teens in line broadcasts and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com.

breaking news this hour rebels claim to control the libyan capital after a major back to. two of his sons were captured body opposition but one has reportedly escaped with the help of law in this fight since. independent journalists at the rixos hotel in tripoli tell you they feel under siege and in danger from what's happening outside. opposition supporters rejoice hoping the forty year old regime is nearing a dead end but skeptics point to the bitter dissolution that followed the full egypt. and e.u. leaders rushed to hold talks with officials from libya's new government as the transitional council several nato nations as favorites for lucrative oil contracts .