libyan rebels have turned down a reported all for by moammar gadhafi to negotiate a power transfer as they prepare a final attack on the colonel's hometown and. there's a big shakeup for the russian space agency after the launch from another old man mission with finds it's now rushing to resupply the international space station and prevent disaster. live pictures here from new york city as hurricane irene has been downgraded to a tropical storm it still is left over three million people without power alone from the u.s. eastern seaboard it is now a slamming into new york green high winds and rock with the rising sea levels. now it's the first part of our feature on the debate over capital punishment in the

u.s. stay with us. 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 that were involved in the execution of sean sellers. this is where sean sellers spent the last thirteen years of his life.

the. cameras in three. parts and three. football players are louis. ok. chon was twenty nine when this interview took place. most people around here you know all this season here when all you see the chains and warriors cry. all you can see is this summer's herzog by. some of those killed somebody. if

someone is dangerous. you are the first year that person is arrested. i don't blame. he said this one. the only people who really really. have. to want to see me did. people on earth believe her story is what i didn't i was sixteen years old those people have a right to hate me a little have a right to be angry with me those people have a right to good if i ever hurt you the wife was good.

when he was sixteen sean murdered his mother vonda and his step father leave. their birds here in eastern oklahoma. the best. i found some archive footage on this tragedy at the local t.v. station. one night while vonda and lee were sleeping in a home shown shot them with his stepfather's gun 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 sellers' 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 x. . jones 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. think it's raw tragedy in states a sixteen year old when he commits a crime can be put. in

one thousand eighty 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 seven saying 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. psychiatrist claim to have brought to light psychological disorders that were on no one at 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 here exhausted all legal recourse. or we go over here. to the street to believe. it's you know. the truth. three days after meeting sean i sit in on the 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. but. steve presson shows 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. in the end a 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 the state. signifies whether we. will grant mercy or generously. after they always show. the first one as i have for ten years. all of my use one should a great person. and if used in i'd mercy i feel it is justice. here for our state yes just i think it's ok to murder a sixty year old. person. for something further right make. it right fear of fear for what is go we are not the wild wild west it's time to realize that there are better ways to handle this than to execute. experience.

so why the rest the world based. on sound sellers of turning. on your part and no man should ever have to shoulder the other three months early in life. and as you know sean was sixteen years old when he committed these murders that's not inside the song so it should not be punished for his crimes sean is being punished no rational person can deny that after each day for the last thirteen years on a slope on a concrete slab just inches from a mile toilet in a windowless room smaller than most of our own closets there he spends twenty three hours a day often twenty four and i think is not executed ill will spend the rest of us alive in just such an existence and that better than what i gave his victims many so not but no one can credibly argue that imprisonment is not punishment sean has been punished is and will be punished. i ask

you about clemency if not now where. if not soldiers who are on sellers' lose on garko. estimate death row very dark on that road even so finding and things don't explain it was rough on. you. during the hearings the families of the victims get to say their pace. of parents and children of leave belafonte show and step father are here to demand that the execution be carried out.

among them or lorna know well at least son and daughter. i'm here to guy. just. for almost thirteen years. style it allowed me just this. drug courts. and now after all of us talk we are shocked to find ourselves in your presence clinging to you. i've sunk hours to go forward and executed. the execution of sellers will not bring my father back the monster mother can never fill the void in my heart. as sellers must be executed for the brutal

crime who committed this is a punishment this is not. and can. i can tell you is a lot of fifteen minutes to plead his case. if they are to know. that i.

know something of what you heard today because i know you. that hurt. another. can imagine. for that stage day. because you have been immersed you also have. no i didn't come here to ask for justice. came here today from earth and. i don't think you will live with it. i'm not so

allusion to that and i made no impulse. to try. to keep on. in this type of hearing the jury does not or charge deliberate the verdict is announced directly. this time. i will call on each member of the board alphabetically. brackenridge. i'll step mother. now and my thought is now. that.

this time the clemency hearing for sean sellers is adjourned. 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 gone. 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.

i think clemency hearing lauren belafonte some of leave ella fattal 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 but see that's you've got to remember that twelve other people decided that was his punishment that was a living punishment for a crime you committed. because i happen to agree with it it uses as a side subject that's that's. that's good for me. it well belafonte lawrence sister lives in the town of lot and in the 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. 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 and it was lethal injection and sarah was all. it was altered intravenously he was prepped and ready to go on lying down and the warden was in there and some doctor. said he prison guards i believe there was no fear he was happy because it seemed like and that to me was readily he didn't like a very perhaps a camp to terms with his fate he gets a list of everyone who's there changing his execution both for 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 gotcha hit didn't get away with it now we. had reached a point where i guess i'd be humanized him and i had to for my own peace of mind i had to look at him for what he was a killer. or as i don't think i could have ever gone through it was painless for him he didn't suffer he was a slave like an animal like euthanize a dog or cat but it was actually probably far more humane.

noel than lower and realized that the execution would also claim other victims shuns family. shuns biological father who had abandoned him when he was two heard about his coming execution. he sent him a video message from california. they'll

take a good look for sure for. certain in terms of health care the thirtieth day of. i just can't get out there. don't think i could almost have the. honor of mostly stable enough to do this. work i am talking to you or this this or to communicate with me i care i can't stand. i love you i wish things were different. could.

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 vonder and now the state was about to put his only ground some to death. he's still migraines are. they still with graves or. i would love to say it's not going to affect me a world where the other one i put in today is. no better.

he's going to go tell my good self. put a show they're not going that man serve i don't regularly back. you know what was your reaction when i was really just. i just really so well. how cruel can you be really. yes only came to my mind. i hated that chance effort. because i live. and was always gets 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 think and. grandfather

died shortly after the execution. if. he is to be abusive as he. seems to be. such a. it

.

all. in taiwan and available in hotels friends to convince myself to tell bangkok. going home i know my hotel by swiss or telecom cold ground a big joke. from a goddess herself. princess in bangkok.