The Desoto Parish man set for execution next month died in prison this past weekend. Death row inmate 81-year-old Christopher Sepulvado was set to die for the 1992 beating and scalding death of his 6-year-old stepson after he came home with soiled underwear.
Sepulvado spent more than 30 years on death row, becoming the oldest inmate waiting for execution. He was one of the two men scheduled to be executed by nitrogen induced hypoxia in March. As the Gulf States Newsroom reports, Sepulvado's lawyers say he was terminally ill. He was 81 years old and spent decades on the state's death row. His spiritual advisor says Sepulvado was a Christian. He enjoyed helping others at the prison and went by the nickname "Shorty."
Sepulvado could have been the first-person Louisiana executed with nitrogen gas. The state recently announced it’s ready to try the new method, which only Alabama has used. Louisiana may use the gas to execute a different man, Jessie Hoffman, next month. But a federal judge has reopened a lawsuit that could affect that case.
Louisiana’s Oldest Death Row Inmate Dies Weeks Before Scheduled Execution by Nitrogen Hypoxia
