An octogenarian death row inmate scheduled to be Louisiana’s first person put to death in 15 years next month has died, officials and his lawyer said.
Christopher Sepulvado, 81, died at approximately 8:45 p.m. local time Saturday at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, the Louisiana Department of Corrections said in a statement Sunday, WVUE reported. Advertisement
“He died from natural causes as a result of complications arising from his pre-existing medical conditions,” according to the department of corrections.
His lawyer, Shawn Nolan, confirmed the death of his client in a statement to media. He said Sepulvado died in the prison infirmary.
“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 lungs is simply barbaric,” Nolan said.
“Such pointless cruelty in scheduling his execution in the face of all this overlooked the hard work Chris did over his decades in prison to confront the harm he has caused, to become a better person and to devote himself to serving God and helping others.” Advertisement
Sepulvado was convicted in 1993 of killing his 6-year-old stepson, Wesley Mercer, on March 8, 1992.
A day before his death, Mercer had come home from school after soiling his pants. His mother spanked the boy and refused him dinner.
The next morning, Sepulvado instructed him to change and bathe before church after being forced to spend the night in his dirty clothes.
According to court documents, the boy hesitated, and Sepulvado repeatedly hit him over the head with a screwdriver until he was unconscious. The boy was then placed in the bathtub, which was filled with scalding water.
Shortly before 2 p.m. that day, Sepulvado and his wife took the boy to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The court documents state the cause of death was attributed to the burns that covered 60% of his body.
Earlier this month, Sepulvado was scheduled to die on March 17 by nitrogen hypoxia as the state seeks to resume executions after 15 years, with Gerald Bordelon the last person killed by Louisiana on Jan. 7, 2010.
Last year, the Louisiana Congress passed legislation to include the use of nitrogen hypoxia to conduct death sentences.
On Feb. 10, Gov. Jeff Landry announced the state has finalized and implemented its updated protocol for nitrogen hypoxia, a controversial method of execution that involves the inmate being killed through their brain being denied oxygen by forcing them to breathe only nitrogen. Advertisement
The next day, Sepulvado was scheduled for execution.
Sepulvado’s lawyers had protested against the move, stating their wheelchair-bound client was suffering from a “myriad health issues” and had experienced a sharp decline in health in the past few weeks.
They accused Louisiana of seeking to execute a dying man.
“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,” Nolan said in a Feb. 11 statement.
Following the announcement of Sepulvado’s death on Sunday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill criticized the state for not executing him sooner.
“Justice should have been delivered long ago for the heinous act of brutally beating then scalding to death a defenseless 6-year-old boy,” she said on X. “The State failed to deliver it in his lifetime but Christopher Sepulvado now faces ultimate judgment before God in the hereafter.”
With Sepulvado’s death, Jessie Hoffman, scheduled to die on March 18, is expected to be the first person to be executed in the state since 2010.
