Latest news with #ChristopherSepulvado
CBS News
24-02-2025
- CBS News
Louisiana's oldest death row inmate dies less than month before execution date
A terminally ill man who spent over 30 years on death row in Louisiana for the killing of his stepson died days after a March date was scheduled for his execution by nitrogen gas. Christopher Sepulvado, 81, died Saturday at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, "from natural causes as a result of complications arising from his pre-existing medical conditions," according to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. He was the oldest of the 57 inmates on death row as the state weighed resuming executions after a 15-year pause, CBS affiliate WWL-TV reported. Sepulvado was charged with the 1992 killing of his 6-year-old stepson after the boy came home from school with soiled underwear. Sepulvado was accused of hitting him on the head with a screwdriver and immersing him in scalding water. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1993. His attorney, federal public defender Shawn Nolan, said in a statement Sunday that doctors recently determined Sepulvado was terminally ill and recommended hospice care. Nolan described his client's "significant" physical and cognitive decline in recent years. "Christopher Sepulvado's death overnight in the prison infirmary is a sad comment on the state of the death penalty in Louisiana," Nolan said. "The idea that the state was planning to strap this tiny, frail, dying old man to a chair and force him to breathe toxic gas into his failing lungs is simply barbaric." According to Nolan, Sepulvado had been sent to New Orleans for surgery earlier in the week but was returned to the prison Friday night. According to WWL-TV, Sepulvado's health had sharply declined, and COPD and gangrene led to a recent leg amputation. Louisiana officials decided to resume carrying out death sentences earlier this month after a 15 year pause driven by a lack of political interest and the inability to secure legal injection drugs. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry pushed to proceed with a new nitrogen gas execution protocol after the state's GOP-dominated Legislature last year expanded death row execution methods to include electrocution and nitrogen gas. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement that "justice should have been delivered long ago for the heinous act of brutally beating then scalding to death a defenseless six-year-old boy." Murrill added that Louisiana failed to deliver justice in his lifetime "but Christopher Sepulvado now faces ultimate judgment before God in the hereafter." Sepulvado's execution was scheduled for March 17. Another man, Jessie Hoffman, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and slated for execution on March 18. Hoffman initially challenged Louisiana's lethal injection protocol in 2012 on the grounds that the method was cruel and unusual punishment. A federal judge on Friday reopened that lawsuit after it was dismissed in 2022 because the state had no executions planned. The country's first execution using nitrogen gas was carried out last year in Alabama, which has now executed four people using the method.
USA Today
24-02-2025
- USA Today
Louisiana death row inmate Christopher Sepulvado dies before execution date
Louisiana death row inmate Christopher Sepulvado dies before execution date Christopher Sepulvado, an 81-year-old Louisiana man who was schedule to be executed, died Saturday night according to his lawyers, just days after a judge handed down an execution date. Sepulvado was to be executed on March 17 for the murder of his 6-year-old stepson in 1992 after a judge granted a death warrant on Feb. 11. He died at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, located in the eastern part of the state. Lawyers for Sepulvado said he suffered from severe physical and mental decline in recent years in a statement announcing his death. "The idea that the State was planning to strap this tiny, frail, dying old man to a chair and force him to breathe toxic gas into his failing lungs is simply barbaric," Shawn Nolan, Sepulvado's attorney, said in the statement. Lawyers said Sepulvado had been sent to a hospital in New Orleans to amputate a leg that contracted gangrene leading to sepsis but was returned to the prison Friday to be prepared for the execution. A statement from the Louisiana Department of Safety and Corrections said that Sepulvado died, "from natural causes as a result of complications arising from his pre-existing medical conditions." Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill argued Sepulvado should have been executed sooner in a statement to USA TODAY. "Justice should have been delivered long ago for the heinous act of brutally beating then scalding to death a defenseless six-year-old boy," Murrill said. Louisiana was set to use controversial execution method Sepulvado would have been the first person executed in Louisiana in 15 years and the first person executed in the state by nitrogen gas. Jessie Hoffman, 46, will now be the first to face the new execution method on March 18. Hoffman was convicted for the 1996 murder of Mary 'Molly' Elliot. Hoffman, Sepulvado and seven other inmates are plaintiffs in a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Louisiana's death penalty. Lawyers for the group filed an emergency effort in the case to stop the nitrogen gas method after Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced its implementation, citing a lack of critical information about sourcing the gas and training for staff, according to the Louisiana Illuminator. Landry said in a statement announcing the implementation that "justice will be dispensed" with the controversial new execution method. 'For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State's most violent crimes," Landry said. The use of nitrogen gas in executions has drawn critics. The Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor for death row inmates and anti-death penalty activist, was a witness to the first nitrogen gas execution in the United States − that of Kenny Eugene Smith on Jan. 25, 2024 − and described it as "horrific." With nitrogen hypoxia is used, the inmate breathes pure nitrogen through a mask that displaces oxygen in their system. Proponents claim it is an almost instant and painless method. Opponents, including Hood, claim it is largely untried and amounts to torture. Some opponents have argued the use of nitrogen gas is a breach of Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment Hood accused Landry of "cowardice" for approving the method in a statement to USA TODAY when it was announced. The U.S. has executed five inmates so far this year, with six executions scheduled in March. There are 57 inmates on death row in Louisiana, according to the Shreveport Times − a part of the USA TODAY Network. Contributing: Greta Cross
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Yahoo
Louisiana inmate dies of natural causes before March execution date
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — An 81-year-old death row inmate died in the Louisiana State Penitentiary after spending over 30 years on death row. Christopher Sepulvado passed away at approximately 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. According to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Sepulvado's death was due to natural causes, stemming from complications related to pre-existing medical conditions. Sepulvado had been in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections since May 24, 1993, after being convicted of first-degree murder in DeSoto Parish. Louisiana judge gives ruling on execution procedures for death row inmates Just one day before, on Feb. 21, the DPS&C received an execution warrant for Sepulvado, with an execution date set for March 17. Louisiana inmate dies of natural causes before March execution date Ukraine's Zelenskyy says he'd be ready to give up presidency if it brought peace, NATO membership Lynne Marie Stewart of 'Pee-wee's Playhouse,' 'It's Always Sunny' dies: reports New Uber feature may overcharge you. Here's how to turn it off Why pharmacies are closing – and what to do if yours shuts its doors Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
13-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Louisiana, Arizona end pauses on capital punishment as 3 executions set for March
Louisiana, Arizona end pauses on capital punishment as 3 executions set for March Three states have scheduled executions in March, including one eyeing a controversial nitrogen gas method in order to carry it out and another state that struggled to insert IVs into three separate inmates during their lethal injections. Louisiana's execution of Christopher Sepulvado on March 17 would mark the end of a 15-year break in executions in the state, which plans to use nitrogen gas. Arizona's execution of Aaron Gunches on March 19 would be the first in the state since 2022, when the state struggled to carry out three executions. Meanwhile South Carolina is set to execute its fourth inmate since September, when the state reinstated the practice after a 13-year pause. "The resumption of executions in states which have not killed prisoners in over a decade is a troubling last gasp for the death penalty in the United States," Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, told USA TODAY on Wednesday. "Killing old men decades after their crimes does not make us safer, nor does it bring back the victims in these cases." Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said in a statement Monday that "justice will be dispensed." 'For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State's most violent crimes," he said. "I anticipate the national press will embellish on the feelings and interests of the violent death row murderers, we will continue to advocate for the innocent victims and the loved ones left behind." So far this year, the U.S. has executed three inmates, with two more scheduled to die and on Thursday and at least 12 more by the end of the year. Here's what to know about the newly scheduled executions. Louisiana ends prohibition on death penalty A De Soto Parish judge granted a death warrant Tuesday for 81-year-old Christopher Sepulvado to be executed on March 17 for the murder of his 6-year-old stepson in 1993. Attorney General Liz Murrill told The Associated Press that the state will use nitrogen gas and expects to execute four inmates this year. The Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor for Death Row inmates and anti-death penalty activist, was a witness to the first nitrogen gas execution in the United States − that of Kenny Eugene Smith on Jan. 25, 2024 − and described it as being "horrific." "Kenny was shaking the entire gurney. I had never seen something so violent," Hood wrote in a column for USA TODAY following the execution of Kenneth Smith. "There was nothing in his body that was calm. Everything was going everywhere all at once, over and over." Sepulvado's attorney, Shawn Nolan, told KTBS-TV that the inmate is in poor health and confined to a wheelchair. "Chris Sepulvado is a debilitated old man suffering from serious medical ailments," he said. "There is no conceivable reason why 'justice' might be served by executing Chris instead of letting him live out his few remaining days in prison." Arizona to restart executions after review The Arizona State Supreme Court granted a warrant of execution for Aaron Gunches on Tuesday, setting the first execution in the state in more than two years for March 19, reported The Arizona Republic − a part of the USA TODAY Network. Gunches was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, a former longtime boyfriend of Gunches' girlfriend. Gunches has advocated for his execution, and the state's Supreme Court previously granted a death warrant for him in 2023 that was not completed when Democratic state leadership paused executions upon taking office. Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes suspended capital punishment pending a review of Arizona's death penalty process because the state struggled to insert IVs for three lethal injection executions in 2022: those of Clarence Dixon, Frank Atwood and Murray Hooper. Dixon's attorneys said it took 40 minutes to insert IVs. Dixon's execution team resorted to inserting an IV line into his femoral vein, which caused him to experience pain and resulted in a "fair amount of blood," according to Associated Press reporter Paul Davenport, who witnessed the execution. The execution team for Atwood also struggled to insert IVs, prompting technicians to consider the femoral vein, as well. However, Atwood asked the team to try his arms again, eventually guiding them to insert the line into one of his hands successfully. During Hooper's execution, he turned and asked the viewing gallery, 'Can you believe this?' as the execution team tried and failed repeatedly to insert IVs into his arms before inserting a catheter into his femoral vein. Hobbs ended the review process late last year, and Mayes announced she was pursuing the execution of Gunches. State officials have said there will now be additional members on the execution team, including a phlebotomist. During previous executions, the IV team was sometimes staffed with corrections officers. South Carolina to execute fourth person in five months Meanwhile the South Carolina Supreme Court on Friday scheduled a March 7 execution date for Brad Sigmon for the 2001 murder of a couple and the kidnapping of their daughter, according to the Greenville News − a part of the USA TODAY Network. Sigmon would be the fourth man executed by the state since September if the execution is completed, following Freddie 'Khalil' Owens, Richard Moore and Marion Bowman last month. Lawyers representing Sigmon, 67, filed a motion last week to stay Sigmon's executionafter reviewing Moore's autopsy. According to the motion, the previous three men remained alive for 20 minutes after receiving a dose of pentobarbital, and Moore had to be injected a second time. 'This raises grave concerns: that during all three of SCDC's recent executions, the drugs were either not properly administered, not reliable and effective, or all of the above,' according to the motion. USA TODAY reached out to the South Carolina Department of Corrections for a response.
