it's fighting in the three days since brambles entered the city. and of course we'll update you on the latest developments in libya in half an hour from now in the meantime it's our special report about life after death row in the u.s. . 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 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 and three. thousand three. hundred dollars or a little we. see here. sean was to. nine hundred nine when this interview took place. most of the people around here you know all this season did you in all the season

chains wars crime. soul. if all you can see is a summer's herzog. did someone is killed somebody. that someone is dangerous did you want the person who did the person deserves to die. and. i don't blame the. exhibit this is why. the only people who really really. have. to want to see me did the people i've heard the media were story the first one i didn't know i was sixteen years old those people have a right to hate me those little 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 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 volunteers and lee were sleeping in their home shown shot

them with his stepfather's gum. 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 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 states a sixteen when he commits a crime to be put.

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 shaun's lawyers try in vain to get

a retrial. psychiatrist claim 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. thousands of letters and maintains correspondence with hundreds of teenagers. when i met them thirteen years after his condemnation he had exhausted all legal recourse. we go over here it. came. to the street to believe oh it's it's you know.

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. of. the five members of the jury selected by the state governor are to offer recommendations as to whether or not sean sellers 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 that knowing sean. 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 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 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. story or as the world thinks. and so on sellers are turning as i carry a burden no man should ever have to shoulder that a monstrous early human life. as you know sean was sixteen years old when he committed these murders that's not to say the chancellor 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 and if he's not executed held will spend the rest of his life in just such an existence is it better than or you 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. i ask you about clemency if not now we're. not showing sellers who on sellers lose on a dark. desolate death row very dark on that row finding 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 bellefonte shawn stepfather are here to demand that the execution be carried out. among them on lorna know well at least son and daughter. i'm here to die. just become my father for almost thirteen years my family has remained silent allowed to just phones and courts. and now after all this time we are shocked to find ourselves in your presence claiming do you know why the deaths. of song 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 lot. but sellers must be executed for the brutal crime who committed this is a punishment this is not nothing. the condemned man is allowed fifteen minutes to played his case.

they go hard to morgan how we behave. that way and i. know something of what you heard today. that hurt. another. can imagine. what i say today. because you didn't have been immersed know me whatsoever. no 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 listen to that i think that i have to make that we. have to try in time 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 on each member of the board alphabetically.

brackenridge 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 for sean sellers is a turn. for. the world. since. sean 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 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. whoa well bellefonte florence sister lives in the town of lawton in 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 injection so it was all done through. it was altered intravenously he was prepped and ready to go when land 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 perhaps he'd come to terms with his fate he gets a list of everyone who's there are trending here's an execution

both. his guests in the prison and his family members and the victim's family members. it's a it's the only opportunity you're going to have to go see i got you. didn't get away with it 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 it was a killer. i don't think i could have ever gone through.

it was painless for him he didn't suffer he was like an animal like euthanize a darker cat but it was actually probably far more humane. noel than lauren realized that the execution would also claim other victims sean's family.

sean's 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. take a good look for sure for. certain make sure this is kind of circumstance. i just can't get back there if you perform. i don't think i could almost have the. stable enough to do this. ok i'm talking to you or this this or to communicate with you i can't i can't stand the way. i love you i wish things were different. good buy.

the execution was a terrible ordeal for sean's grandfather jim valdas 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 were great so. i would

love to say it's not going to affect me one where the other one may put him today or third oh. but i know better. this girl told her mother good say i'll. put a shoulder they're not going to bring that man sir i will bring labor goldberg world back. you know what was your reaction when i asked you what you just. really thought well. how cruel can you be really. as children go to cain and women. i hated that janet suffered. because our live chat. he was always good to me.

as a child i really liked him. and i hated that he i mean he was so. broken at the commissary i couldn't bear to look at. sean's grandfather died shortly after the execution.

where the gold rush still gets people like. this time. where the local government is giving power back to the people. to a paradox. on our. breaking

news from libya hundreds of rebels have entered the libyan leader's compound the opposition claims to be in control of most of the capital however the whereabouts of colonel gadhafi remains unknown. secretive system has reportedly planned the endgame for gadhafi regime guiding the rebels in their push. oil giants fall back to libya on the red carpet. to help give them. international news in comment live from moscow it's just past ten pm here in the russian capital and in tripoli eight pm where the breaking news is that libyan rebels inside.