leaders rushed to hold talks with officials from libya's new government as the transitional council named it several nato nations as favorites for a lucrative oil contract. more headlines coming in less than half an hour but first our special report looks at life after the death penalty in the us. the 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 all the people love born revolved in the execution of sean sellers.

this is where sean sellers spent the last thirteen years of his life. never cameras in three. thousand three. hundred dollars or a little we. took a. year. shawn was too. nine hundred nine when this interview took place. most people around here you know all this season did ruin all the season chains

wars and cry. so. you know if all you can see is this summer's herzog. did someone is killed somebody. that someone is dangerous did you with the person who 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 have heard the media her story she knows what i didn't i was sixteen years old those people have a right to hate me those legal have a right to be angry with me those people have a right to what we did if i ever heard you why do you want me to die.

when he was sixteen shawn murdered his mother vonda and his stepfather leave. their birds here in eastern oklahoma. i found some archive footage on this tragedy at the local t.v. station. one night while vonda and lee were sleeping in their home sean shot them

with his stepfather scum. he has always claimed that he committed this crime while under the power of an uncontrollable force. 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 and both 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. richard accepted to testify against shown in exchange for a lighter sentence. when mrs evidence even shown sellars own confession and 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. sean'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. i think it's right tragedy that in the united states a sixteen yo when he commits a crime can be put to.

in one thousand nine hundred seventy 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 shaun's lawyers try in vain to get a retrial. psychiatrist him to have brought to light psychological disorders that were on no one of the time of the trial shown now an adult writes books attacking the cultures of. the stars and of letters and maintains correspondence with hundreds of teenagers. when i met him thirteen years after his condemnation he had exhausted all legal recourse. for wheeler it is here it. came. to the street to believe. that they could.

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 his 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 showing our president to ask but his life be spared. to me this day. signifies whether me and i. will grant mercy or deny mercy and then after that knowing sean. the first one 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 justice or am 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 if i i fear or fear for

a walk in scope we are not the wild wild west it's time to realize. better ways to . experience it is a story or as the world thinks. on song sellers are turning as i carry a burden 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 sean sellers should not be punished for his crimes sean is being punished and 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 and if he's 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 when. not showing sellers who. on sellers lives 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.

but parents and children of lee belafonte sean stepfather are here to demand that the execution be carried out. among them are lauren and the well at least son and daughter. i'm here to die. just before my father for almost thirteen years my family has remained silent allowed to just phones and courts. now after all of this time we are shocked to find ourselves in your presence

claiming do you know why the deaths. of some sellers to go forward and executed. the execution of sellers will not bring my father bad or my stepmother it 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 content is allowed fifteen minutes to played his case.

hardened morgan how we can be. that guy. and have something of what you heard today. that heard. another. imagine. that saved a. 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 or make up what it is. i'm not. so listen to that i think that i can make that equals lives. i have to try in trying and i have to keep on from my. in this type of hearing the jury does not retire to deliberate the verdict is announced directly. this time. i will call on each member of the board alphabetically. plant

brackenridge now. i'll step mother at this time ruby smith. ronald more than. and my that does now. the charm. this time the clemency hearing. it's. shown as day. for the state of oklahoma the case is being closed for a long time. but for all those who witnessed his execution life is going on.

now twelve years later i am 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 bell a photo 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 i'm the center of oklahoma. she also waited thirty nine years impatiently 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 injections it was all done through. it was altered intravenously he was prepped and ready to gallon lying down and the warden was in there and some doctor and so a few prison guards i believe there was no fear he was happy because it seemed like and that to me it was totally conceivable he didn't like afraid but perhaps he'd come to terms with his fate he

gets a list of everyone who. hears execution. both . his guests and the prison 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 dog or cat but it was actually probably far more humane. realize that the execution would also claim other victims sean's 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 things going to look for sure for. certain meter and this is kind of certain if they have. i just can't get back there if you personally. i don't think i could almost have the. stable enough to do this. work i am talking to you over this this or to communicate with me i can't i can't stand. alone you who wish things were different. could buy.

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. he still was great so. i would love to say it's. a one where the other one they put him to. but i know better. it's going to go to good so. i couldn't show that they're not going to bring that man sir i don't really. you know what was your reaction when you. i just really so we'll. how cruel can you be really. so so to came to women. 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.

breaking news this hour a reuters news agency quoting rebel sources saying nato is that now pounding gadhafi compound in tripoli from the air this as cut off the forces of fire three surface to air missiles towards the coastal city of misrata the rebel council claims that they are in control of most of the libyan capital after the alliance backed advanced while loyalists say they've regained some ground. independent journalists at the rixos hotel in tripoli tell our t. they feel under siege and in danger from what's happening outside. opposition supporters rejoice hoping that the forty one year old regime is nearing a dead end but skeptics point to the bitter disillusionment that followed the fall of the new gypsum dictator. the new leaders of russia to hold talks with officials from libya's new government the transitional council names several nato nations as favorites for lucrative oil contracts.