tropical storm irene leaves over four million people without power along the u.s. eastern seaboard as it slams into new york bringing high winds and heavy downpours a limited trail of destruction it's also claimed at least fifty yards. all coming up next the first part of our special report on the capital punishment debate in the united states as we meet the family of a sixteen year old boy who was executed in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine do stay with 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 that were involved in the execution of sean sellers.

this is where sean sellers spent the last thirteen years of his life. cameras in three. thousand three. hundred stores are we. ok. here. sean was to. nine hundred nine when this interview took place.

most of the people around here are you know all this season to throw in all the seeds chains and wars and crime. and so. you know if all you can see is a summer's herzog but. 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. existing one. the only people who really really. have. to want to see me did and people have heard the media were story big this is what 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 heard you why do you want me to die. when he was sixteen sean 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 volunteer and lee were sleeping in their 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. 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.

his 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. 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.

think it's raw tragedy that in the united states a sixteen yo when he commits a crime can 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. the stars and of letters and maintains correspondence with hundreds of teenagers. when i met them thirteen years after his condemnation he had exhausted all legal recourse. for we'll ever hear it. i came. to the street to believe you know if 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 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 shown seller 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 me and i. will grant mercy or deny mercy and then after that knowing a shard of. the 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 kill a person. or something for a crime they've committed if i i fear fear for was discovered we are not the wild wild west it's time to realize. better ways to handle this. experience is. go arrest the world based. on sound seller's attorney as i'm sure your part of 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 that sean 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 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 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 i 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 lives on a dark. desolate death row very dark on that row dining and all. please don't extinguish them on. you.

during the hearings the families of the victims get to say their piece. the parents and children of lee belafonte sean 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 guy. just become my father for almost thirteen years my family has remained silent allowed to just this phones and our courts.

now after all this time we are shocked to find ourselves in your presence cleaving do you have a death sentence. of song cellars to go forward and executed. the execution of sellers will not bring my father back or my stepmother 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.

thank you card for. that. and something of what you heard today because i know that people. have heard. another. can imagine. what i say today. because you do have been immersed know me well so have.

no i didn't come here to ask for justice. came here to beg for mercy. i don't think you will live with it if. i'm not. so allusion to the i think the make up of the people's lives. i have to try in time i have to keep on from my. in this type of hearing the jury does not return 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. this time the clemency hearing for shannon 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 going to. 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. 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 you got to remember that twelve other people decided that was his punishment that was a fitting punishment for crime he committed because i happen to agree with it.

is a side subject that's that's. that's good for me. it's. lawrence sister lives in the town of lawton in the center of oklahoma. she also waited thirteen years impatiently for shown to be executed. homa the families of victims have the right to view the execution. and her family came to the penitentiary to watch sean being put to death.

he was strapped down to a table with his arms out to his side and they had run an i.v. which was have a were going to. commit the execution and it was lethal injection. through. it was altered intravenously he was prepped and ready to go lying down and the warden was in there and some doctor and. 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's there to ending his execution both for his guests in the prison the guests 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 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 he didn't suffer he was put to sleep like an animal like euthanize a dog or cat but it was actually probably far more humane.

noel than lauren realised that the execution would also claim other victims sean's family. shawn'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. they'll take a good look for sure for. certain midterm this is kind of certain if they have. i just can't get back there if you. don't think i could almost have the. honor emotionally 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 who wish things were different. could buy. the execution was a terrible ordeal for sean's grandfather jim vandas 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 grandson to death.

he's still migraines are. they still. i would love to say it's going to affect a world where the other woman put him today. but i know better. it's going to go to good. put a show there's 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 children 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.

twenty years ago largest country. disintegrates it. must have been trying. to teach began the journey. where did it take to.

be good rebels have turned reported over by monica donkey to go save the power transfer as they prepared final time in town. the rebels say it's treason talks that's ahead for the embattled leader for more join the reflection of from tripoli in just a moment. there's a big shakeup in the russian space agency after the loss of another unmanned mission with scientists now rushing to resupply the international space station on prevent a disaster. also north korean leader kim jong il roll through hopeful russia by train for meeting with president medvedev saying beyond young ones a resumption of international talks that will bring peace to the peninsula. and tropical storm irene leads forty million people without power along the u.s. eastern seaboard as it slams into new york very high.