Condemned killer pleads for mercy on Internet

Sellers is scheduled for execution on February 4 RELATED VIDEO CNN's Charles Zewe reports on a condemned man's Web site Windows Media 28K 56K

January 18, 1999
Web posted at: 3:22 p.m. EST (2022 GMT)

In this story:

• 'Trying to save his hide'
• 'I can make a difference'
• Related stories and sites

MCALESTER, Oklahoma (CNN) -- From his death row cell in an Oklahoma prison, Sean Sellers is waging a worldwide campaign for his life.

Sellers, 28, has an Internet Web site chronicling his crimes, his statements of contrition and his desire for clemency. Although he does not have access to a computer in prison, Sellers mails his writings to friends on the outside who then post them online.

Sellers was only 16 when he was sentenced to die for killing a convenience store clerk and his mother and stepfather.

"I'm so sorry for it and I'm trying everything that I can do to make up for it," Sellers said. If allowed to live, "I can be an example that you can change your life," he said.

A former teen-aged Satanist turned Christian, Sellers published a Christian comic novel and married briefly while on death row.

His Web site has sparked controversy but prison officials said they have no authority to shut it down.

Sellers details his crimes and confession on his Web site

'Trying to save his hide'

Meanwhile, the detective who investigated the killings maintains his own Web site, dedicated to Sellers' victims.

Inspector Ron Mitchell of the Oklahoma City police said Sellers killed for the feeling of power it gave him, and calls the condemned man's Web site a scam.

"He's still, I think, concerned more with trying to save his hide than anything else," Mitchell said.

Jennifer Campola, the sister of Sellers' stepfather, said Sellers' Web site has reopened old wounds.

"I was afraid to read it, and when I finally did, I sat there and I cried," Campola said.

'I can make a difference'

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Sellers' last round of appeals in November.

His final hope rests with a plea for clemency from Gov. Frank Keating. But Keating does not seem receptive to the idea of sparing Sellers' life.

"What he did was inexcusable and awful, and I don't think any of us in this state -- I don't think thoughtful people anywhere in the world -- can forget that," he said.

Barring a reprieve, Sellers is set to die by lethal injection at two minutes past midnight on February 4.

"I have a peace about death," he said. "If I die, though, it's not going to make a difference. If I live, I can make a difference. I know I can."

Correspondent Charles Zewe contributed to this report.