Hi friends, how are you today? I hope you're having a
wonderful day so far. My name is Bailey Sarian (laughing). I thought my hair looked really cute, and I was like, "Oh my God, so cute." But the longer I look at it, I'm like, "Oh my God, I look dumb as hell, don't I?" Maybe once I get the makeup on. Okay, today's Monday, which means it's Murder, Mystery and Makeup Monday. ♪ Seta sa, seta sa, seta set set seta sa ♪ If you are new here, hi, welcome. My name is Bailey Sarian, and on Mondays, I sit down and I talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my
(tongue clicking) noggin, and I do my makeup at the same time. If you're interested in true
crime and you like makeup, I would highly suggest you
hit that subscribe button, 'cause I'm here for you on Mondays. If you ever curious to
know what I'm using, I will list it down in the
description box down below. Let's get into today's story. Today's story does involve Satanism. Today's story is not a reflection of the whole Satanism religion. You know, like we're adults
here, we could separate the two. I just have to say that
because it never fails, whenever a religion is mentioned, they think that I'm suggesting that it represents the whole religion. And I am not, we're
separating the two, right? I forget to mention that
in a lot of these stories, and I need to remember that,
because it never fails. There's bad seeds, no
matter where you look. Sean Sellers, talking about
him, have you heard of him? Well, let me tell you,
drama, drama, drama, because he was like the youngest guy to ever be executed in the United States. And I'm totally jumping ahead, but that's why the story is like, wow. So who's Sean Sellers? Let me tell you, Sean Sellers
was born in California on May 18th, 1969. Sean's mom, her name was Vonda. Now, she was only 16 when she had him, and his biological father
was said to be very unstable, and a bit of an alcoholic. But at the age of three,
Sean's mother and father, they ended up separating, and then Vonda quickly met a new man who was a truck driver named Lee. His real name's Paul,
but they called him Lee. So Lee, okay, he's a truck driver. Cool, they meet. And after meeting, the two of them just ran off together, got married. And Sean's mother left Sean behind with his grandparents in Oklahoma. Now Sean's mother and stepfather would spend their time
driving across the country, and then they would
stop by every so often, like every few weeks to visit Sean. So at the age of eight,
Sean's mother and stepfather, they ended up moving to Los Angeles, and they took Sean with them. So he went from living in a small town with his grandparents
in Oklahoma, remember, and now he's moving, or
he moved to Los Angeles, where he said it was a lot more hectic, and like they went into
this small apartment. So it was just a really rough adjustment. Sean said, though, he was happy, because he was living with his mom again, and also with Lee, who
Sean considered his father. The time Sean was 16, he had moved around 30 different times, so he's jumping around from town to town, for reasons
related to his parents' jobs. Now it was rough because Sean was never able to make
friends, have a stable home. You know, if he liked a place, he knew like he couldn't
get attached to it, or get comfortable, because they would
probably be moving again. Like 30 times is wild. But over time, Sean just
stopped trying to make friends, and preferred just being alone,
because what was the point? They were just gonna move again. Sean would say that in
the family household, he would suffer beatings from his mother, as well as from his grandfather, when he was living with him. And then there was a short period of time when Sean was living with his uncle, and this uncle did not like that Sean would wet the bed at night. So he would force him to wear
diapers when he went to bed. I guess that's fine, right? Normally, like they wet the bed, you wear a diaper the next night. But Sean was around the
age of 12, 13 years old, so this was just humiliating to him. Sean would say that if he wet
the bed two nights in a row, the uncle would force Sean
to wear the soiled diaper on his head for the day. So that uncle's a little
not right, you know? Sean would say that he
was a pretty intense guy, like he would take Sean hunting, and teach him how to kill the animals by doing certain techniques. I won't go into graphic detail, but he would teach him
how to kill the animals. And Sean would say that
he would watch his uncle kill animals in a pretty brutal way. And if Sean was grossed out at all, or like didn't wanna watch or participate, the uncle would make fun
of him, calling him a wimp, telling him that he's pathetic,
and was just really mean. He sounded like a real awful guy. So it wasn't until his
family moved to Colorado that the now teenage Sean
felt happy for the first time. When they moved there, you know, he was going to school, and he
joined the Civil Air Patrol, and he had been studying
emergency response training, which he would eventually
graduate from the program with outstanding honors. Sean's mother and stepfather, they really took notice to like him being
passionate about something, and him like really applying himself towards this new interest. And they made him really proud. They were very proud of Sean. He was just doing really well. It was clear to them that
their quiet, well-behaved son was finally like coming
out of his shell a bit. Teachers at the high
school Sean was attending knew him as a good student,
who loved comic books. And he had a talent for drawing. Sean wasn't popular by any means. He had like a few friends,
but for the most part, he really just enjoyed learning. Pretty good kid. Many of his teachers noted that Sean absolutely loved reading, and that he almost always
had his nose in a book. Bookworm. Again in Colorado, it was
just like day and night. Sean just seemed like a different person. He was finding himself, he seemed happy. And he just seemed to really
be doing well in school. Right, things are great, he's happy, yay. And then things changed. Not long after moving to Colorado, you know, Sean's getting all
settled in, he's doing well. His parents notified him, or informed him, that they would be moving again. This time they're going back to Oklahoma. So for obvious reasons, like Sean is devastated by this news. He finally found somewhere
that he belonged. He's doing well, he's succeeding in life. He has hobbies, he's just doing well. He doesn't want to go. And he's trying to convince his parents to just let him stay. Like, "For the first time in my life, things are doing well,
please just let me stay." Sean's parents knew that
there there's no way that they could leave their
15 year old alone in Colorado, when they moved to Oklahoma. So unfortunately, they
had to move, and they did. So they headed back to Oklahoma City. And then after they moved,
Sean's attitude changed. He was angry. He was a teenager, for
starters, so that's not good, because you're usually a
little angry already, you know? But now he hates his parents, okay. And he just didn't see the
point in participating, or giving his all in this new city, because what was the fricking point? They were probably gonna move again once he started to like
it there, you know? Now Sean's mom Vonda, she
had a temper of her own. She just seemed to take her
frustrations out on Sean. He was often beaten for different reasons. She would slap him across the face, hit him with a belt, or
just punch him in the face. And all of this, and the
move just really broke him. And his anger was building up inside. While in school, Sean
said that he received an underground magazine from some guy who was promoting the occult. He's like, "Ooh, what's this?" And like, it was a handmade magazine, and it was just filled
with satanic metal bands. There was an interview and
artwork from Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, remember? There were cartoons of
different serial killers in the magazine. It was just focused
mainly on satanic killers. Sean said when he got
this, he was interested. Okay, he was like, "What is this? I've never seen something
like this before." I don't quite understand this next part, but Sean said that he met someone who considered themselves a witch. No idea where they met this person, but it was said that he met a witch, okay, and that this witch
taught him the ins and out of black magic, and that he was just really
infatuated with it all. It was all new, it was
different, it was intriguing. He liked it, you know? So now that he was introduced to it, Sean was trying to do all of
his own research on witchcraft. And he would go to his local library, and find books on the topic. Now this would lead him to
find books about Satanism. And no, I'm not saying
they go hand in hand, but this is how Sean was introduced to it, like it was in the same section. So he finds this book that he's like, "Ooh, what is this, Satan? Oh, let me read this," you know? And he's just obsessed. It's a new obsession, it just
really caught his interest. And Sean said that he
was so interested in it, because he was mad at God. And that Satanism, it
was offering freedom, and a promise to control his
life, and control others. That's what really lured him in. The thing that Sean felt
he lacked most in life was control over himself
and his environment. At his age, his life could
be, and was easily uprooted. And at any moment, you
know, by his parents, and he just loathed them for that. Practicing Satanism would become like a normal thing for
Sean in his day to day life. It's at this time he's also
playing Dungeon & Dragons. And some articles try to say that like inspired him even
more to get into Satanism. But Sean said in a blog post, that it was not the Dungeon &
Dragons that got him into it. It was just something
that people were using to like feed the narrative. So I'm just saying that,
because if you heard that, and you're like, "What
about Dungeons & Dragons?" He said it wasn't Dungeon & Dragons. So at this time, Sean is into Satan, cool. So he's a sophomore in
high school at this time, and Sean said that he would
bring small vials of blood, and like wear it around his neck. And then throughout the day in class, he would drink the blood. So he turned into like that kid. Maybe he didn't have
that kid in your class, but there was like one of
those, you know, drinking blood. I'm not judging, but I can't
imagine that's good for you. I don't know. Anyway, so he's doing that. Sean said that Satanism taught him that he could make his own
rules to live by in life. And the rituals of it would allow him to take his control back. And Sean's knowledge on Satanism grew, 'cause he was just reading
anything and everything he possibly could about the topic. And he said that he would participate in various satanic rituals,
more and more often. What he didn't see coming though was the side effects that
came along with this. Oh yes, side effects? Over time, Sean started
having, "Strange problems," as he called them. He said that he was
hearing voices in his head, but he was hearing voices in
his head from a young age. But these voices seem to amplify, and would soon sound very
different than how they once had. He said that these voices were demons, and they urged him to do the
things that he wanted done, whatever that means, you know? I think most people would be like, "Oh, there's a demon in
me, I need to get it out." But not Sean, nay nay. He would say that these voices
didn't scare him at all. It just solidified the idea that Sean was doing something right. He's communicating with these demons. Soon after, Sean realized
that the demon voices were showing up in his mind more and more. And he said that he began
having blackout periods, in which like a light
switch of his awareness would be flicked off for a period of time. And he just wouldn't have any
memory of like what happened. After these blackouts,
Sean could not remember what he'd been doing exactly. He said that he felt like his mind was like constantly jumbled. He couldn't calm the voices down. He couldn't calm the thoughts down. He couldn't focus on anything. And these voices were actually becoming more of a serious problem for him. So at first, the voices
aren't bothering him. He's kind of like, "Oh yeah,
it's like proving to me that I'm on the right track." But I guess the voices just
keep going on for so long, and it's becoming such a problem for him, that he goes to his mom and he tells her, like, "Mom, I'm hearing
these voices in my head, and I think that I'm going crazy." This is what he tells his mom. His mom's a dumb ***, and
she's like, "Oh, okay." She assumed he was just
being a teenage boy, just going through those normal, teenager, hormonal changes, you know, the ones where you hear
demons and such, teens. So she doesn't do anything
with this information. She's like, "Oh, you're crazy? Okay, get in line, sure." So Sean finds that to be
a little bit frustrating, because he feels as if his mom
is not taking him seriously, 'cause she's not. So he ends up going to
two different teachers, and he tells these teachers
like, "I'm hearing things. I'm just not feeling right,
like something's not right." But these two teachers
also didn't do anything with the information that he gave them. He was trying to get (laughing)
somebody to help him. I'm laughing because it's
uncomfortable, right? Like this poor guy, I
don't know what I would do. So at school, Sean did have a friend. His name was Richard Howard. And he ends up telling his
friend, Richard, at school, he's like, "I'm having these really, just dark morbid thoughts about
doing really awful things." And his friend Richard, now he was a little nervous
at first to tell Richard, because he could scare him away, right? Like if your friend tells you, "I'm thinking about
some really dark ****," you might be a little
scared, I don't know. So Richard's listening to this, and instead of like offering
any type of advice or anything, Richard tells Sean that he
needs to embrace the thoughts, and that these thoughts aren't bad. "They're actually cool,
because I have them too," this is what Richard's telling Sean. Richard tells Sean, "I too,
am interested in Satanism. I've always had these dark
thoughts, and they're powerful. Let's keep 'em." Richard, he too was
deep into the darkness. Sean said that Richard was way more evil than he had ever been, and that Richard was the one who initiated a lot of their evil discussions that they had between the two of them. Instead of talking about
whatever teen boys talk about, sports, love interests, or whatever, I don't know what boys talk about. But Sean and Richard would
discuss potential crimes that they wanted to commit. They would go into like great detail about different murders and
robberies they wanted to commit, and then they would talk about how they wanted to rape certain
people before killing them. In a later interview, Sean would say that like all of these discussions, this conversation, they
were all hypothetical. They weren't like serious
about it, it was just for fun. They were using their imagination. He also said that the two of them never had any real intent
to commit these crimes. They just thought that these
stories would be cool to do. Over time though, their friendship, it grew pretty **** dark, and their chats just became
more and more serious. Like they weren't joking around anymore. According to Sean,
Richard absolutely hated his girlfriend's father,
whose name was Al Hawks. Now Richard found out that this guy Al had beaten his daughter over an argument, and left her heavily bruised. So Richard tell Sean like, "Hey, you know, maybe we can borrow one
of my grandpa's guns, and use that to murder Al Hawk together, wouldn't that'd be fun?" Now, it didn't take much
convincing for Sean to then agree. Sean mentioned that he did want to like offer some sort of sacrifice, that would grant him power
in the afterlife with Satan. You know, so he's like,
"Yeah, we should do that." In order for the two of them to feel equally accomplished that evening, Richard said that he would only kill Al, after Sean killed someone else first, that way they're even, you know. The two went back and forth, trying to decide who would
be their first target. Finally, Richard suggested that Sean kill the night shift cashier at the local Circle K. Now at this point, Sean didn't really care who his victim was. He just wanted to know
what it felt like to kill. The Circle K cashier, his
name was Robert Bower. He almost always worked the
midnight shift during the week. And Richard, he would usually
stop by that Circle K location on his way home from seeing
his girlfriend most nights. Richard said that him and
the Circle K cashier, Robert, they were like friendly with one another. But there was one time when Richard was trying to buy a beer. Mind you he's 16, so like he's
not, that's not gonna happen. He thought that Robert and him were cool, and that Robert would
allow him to get the beer. But instead, Robert told him no. And this was enough for Robert to move to the top of the boy's kill list, because they couldn't get beer. (laughing) It's not funny, but it's like, oh my God, really? Yes, really. So on that very same night, Richard planned on killing Al Hawk, the two of them went to
the Circle K store first. So when the two of them arrived, they went inside, and they
talked to the cashier, Robert Bower for some time. They first purchased some fountain drinks, and some snacks, and they
were kind of stalling, until the perfect moment came. The teenage boys asked different questions about the security
measures inside the store. They're asking him like, "Hey,
where are the cameras at? Do you guys have any cameras here? Do you have a gun behind the counter?" And most of the answers were
like, "No, we don't have that." They didn't have cameras, no gun. Robert told the boys that he
had never been robbed before, and that the cash register only would carry $50 cash all day. So it was like he was sure
nobody would ever kill him for $50 cash. And for the most part, that was true. But Sean wasn't interested in the money. He just wanted somebody to kill. So Sean said that he exited the store, and he walked out to the truck
where he got the revolver that they had gotten from
the backseat of the truck. Sean said for a moment, he like really, he stood outside and he was thinking like, "I don't think I can actually do this. Like, I don't think I'm actually capable of killing somebody." And then Sean said that that light switch
in his head flicked, and these voices just flooded in, telling him that he needed
to stop being a coward, and that he just needed to go do it. So once Sean got back into the store, Robert was up in his
spot behind the counter. And then Richard was walking
up and down the aisles, pretending to like look for snacks. And Richard held up a product, a random product from the shelf, and was like, "Hey, how much is this?" And Robert's back was towards
him, so he turns around. And when he turns around, standing right there
was Sean holding a gun to Robert's face. Like nothing was really said, it was just Sean shoots the gun. Luckily he misses, and
Robert is trying to get away. But Sean keeps shooting,
and keeps missing. There is like a struggle, really goes on for a little bit of time. It's quite sad. And then Sean shoots again, which at that last shot is
when it hits and kills Robert, for no **** reason too, like (grunting). According to Sean, the
two boys, they run out, they hop into Richard's truck,
and they sped off laughing. That's what he said, they were laughing at what they had just done. Their adrenaline was just pumping. And Sean couldn't believe
that like he actually did it. And for some reason, they decided not to go to Al Hawk's house and commit the second murder. I don't know why, Sean also in interviews could not remember exactly why they decided to abandon
their original plan. Yeah, they just didn't go. They didn't really mind it too much. I think they were just so
high on their adrenaline, they were, I don't know. Sean was excited because
he had just committed his first murder, his first
real satanic sacrifice, ooh. It wasn't long after that
they had found Robert Bower, the Circle K cashier. There were no leads to the
murder of Robert Bower, there were no suspects in
mind, no evidence, no cameras. It was just one big mystery, who would want this innocent,
hardworking man dead? Now when Sean read the
paper with the news in it, saying that they had no leads and stuff, he said that he was feeling relieved, but most of all, he
was feeling invincible, like he could get away with anything. Well, not long after this first murder, Sean got himself a girlfriend. Oh, it was more than just
a girlfriend, it was love. He was in love. Sean was dating a 15 year
old girl named Angel, who went to the same school as Sean, and that's how they met. She would go on to drop out of school, and she was considered a difficult teen. She just seemed like
she was up to no good. That's really, that's how they
described her, I don't know. But Sean's parents, they did
not like this relationship. And Sean really just didn't seem to care. "We're in love, Mom." Sean's mom Vonda, she
did not like Angel, okay. And she would often bad
mouth her in front of Sean. She would call her a ****, or a *****, reminding her of what a loser she was. His mother was doing
everything she possibly could to try and convince Sean
that they needed to break up, and that it was for his own good. But Sean was not willing to give up. The one thing that was
making him happy in Oklahoma, this girl Angel. Eventually, Sean could no longer handle the way his mom was verbally abusing both him and his girlfriend. She's only 15 years old,
lady, like back the **** up. You know, that's not your, just no. She had no like motherly
instinct towards Sean, and all of this is just
building up inside of him. And Sean said that the
voices inside of his head were giving him a nudge, telling him that Sean
knew what he needed to do. Oh, and he did it. In the evening of March 5th, 1986, while Sean's parents
were in the other room, Sean crept into their bedroom, opened up his stepfather's nightstand, and inside, that's where
he kept his 44 revolver. So Sean gets the gun,
puts it into his waistband of the jeans that he's wearing, and he slowly like walks
back to the bedroom, hoping not to make a peep, and let his parents know
that he's stealing their gun. So he makes it back to his bedroom, and he closes the door, and
he's just waiting there. He's waiting in his room until he knows that his parents are going to sleep. Sean said that while he's
waiting for his parents to like go to their room, he stripped down all like
into his black underwear, and performed one of his rituals. Out of my own curiosity, I was trying to figure
out what was this ritual he was doing, 'cause I was
like, "What are you doing?" But I couldn't figure
it out, he didn't say. And before stepping out of his room, Sean convinced himself that
he wasn't committing murder, he was just removing an
obstacle from his way. He hears his parents go to
bed, and he waits a little bit. He does his little ritual, and
he's in his underwear still. He creeps back into his parents' room, with the gun in his hand. And he said that he made
the last minute decision to kill his stepfather first. So he gets right next
to his stepfather, Lee, and he points the gun at
his head, and he shoots. Yeah, and then of course the
gunshot woke Vonda right up. Right, so she shoots up, and then Sean shoots a couple of times, and then kills his mom. Sean said that he fired a
couple of shots afterwards, just to make sure, you know,
you can't have 'em be alive. And he killed them. Sean said that after killing them, the voices left, and
he then had no memory, or no idea of what he had just done. Which even though like later on, he goes into great
detail about the murders, but also he doesn't remember,
blackout, like sure. Afterwords, Sean went around the house, and he's trying to like
mess everything up, destroying just everything he could to make it look like an intruder
came into the family home, and killed his parents. So that's his goal, he's
like knocking stuff over, eh, you know? And afterwards, Sean calls up his friend, he tells them like what
a great job he did. He went on to say that he
stood there in his undershorts, while firing the shots,
so no blood would spatter, and be discovered on his clothing. And he thought like he was
a genius because of this. He's telling his friend, he's like, "Yeah, look what I did, smart." The friend's probably like,
"Oh my God, wow, genius." So police were called
out to the family home, and it was clear to police that night that this was all a setup. Sean had killed his parents. The way that he was acting, the way that the house
was perfectly messed up, there was no actual signs
of there being an intruder, nothing was taken, all of their jewelry, their money, their TVs and stuff, like nothing was taken. The police knew like nay
nay, "This is real suspish." Sean said that he left
the gun on the floor to make it look like the
intruder like dropped his weapon, but like the gun had
his fingerprints on it. So Sean just really was an idiot here. I was trying to figure
out what exactly it was that the police knew it was Sean. Like, was it the way he
was acting, or something? But I really couldn't find the information as to what sealed it at the family home. I just was reading different articles that said he was acting funny. The house looked not like an
intruder came in and stuff. And then he was arrested, or whatever. And like, that's really all I could find. So Sean was arrested like
right after the discovery of his parents' murder. When news broke of the case, his entire community was dumbfounded. This young 16 year old kid had murdered his parents in cold blood. And more than that, now here
was the really shocking part, because he claimed to have done it because the demons said that he should. Now this was a Christian community, okay. This is a Christian community. "The devil is in our town." They're losing it, they are losing it. The Christian community especially was using this to show, like
he became the poster boy. "Look what can happen if your
child goes to the dark side. Look what can happen when your kids play Dungeon & Dragons." They were running with the
Dungeon & Dragons thing, even though Sean said that
it wasn't Dungeon & Dragons, they were using this to try and get Dungeon & Dragons shut down. They called it, "The devil's board game." So the narrative was kind
of, it was getting changed. It became like let's ban
Dungeon & Dragons for awhile, or whatever, it became a mess. So remember Sean's friend, Richard? Well Richard, who was
with Sean at the time of the murder of Robert Bowers, he too was initially charged
with first degree murder. But the state would end
up dismissing the charge, and recommended that he give a five-year suspended sentence, in exchange for testimony against Sean. So Richard, being that he's
like, "Okay, I'll testify." During Sean's trial, a
psychiatrist testified, saying that Sean was incapable of forming the intent necessary to commit first degree murder, because he was either insane, or legally uncautious, at the
time of all three killings. The jury was not told
that Sean was only 16 at the time of the crime, but instead, jurors were asked to decide whether his age was a mitigating factor. So the judge did not allow the defense to introduce expert testimony that juveniles are developmentally
different to adults, because the judge said that all jurors, they would know that anyway. So Sean is only 16, and nobody was allowed to tell the jurors that a 16 year old isn't
the same as a grown adult, because according to the judge, the jurors already knew this. But the prosecution was
focusing on Sean being an adult when he picked up that gun,
that he acted like a man. And he's going to have to
stand up there, like a man, because he made this adult
man decision to murder. Because he picked up this gun, he should be charged as a man, because he was acting like one. And a lot of people agreed with that. And I was like, "I don't
know you guys, but." Well, eventually Sean was
convicted of first degree murder, and it was concluded that he was a continuing
threat to society. Now, because he was considered
a continuing threat, on October, 1986, Sean Sellers
was sentenced to death. Now here's where the hot debate comes in, because Sean, at the age of
17, was sent to death row. In prison, as he waited for his execution, Sean had a spiritual awakening, and he would end up
converting to Christianity. So Sean's friends started
a website on his behalf, and they were campaigning for a clemency, based on his religious conversion, his age, and involvement in Satanism. While on death row, Sean made numerous
appearances in the media. He was on, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," he was on a pretty notorious
segment on, "Geraldo," which was about Satanism. And it was just like
controversial for this time. And he also appeared, Sean,
in many documentaries, about Satanism and serial
killers for, "48 Hours," MSNBC, and the A&E network. So he was making his rounds, Sean. But he was going around telling everybody that Satanism made him
commit these crimes. But now that he was a Christian, he knew what he did was wrong, and Christianity saved his
life, which is fine, right? You're allowed to say that, but it had people kind
of feeling a certain way. Like, was he being sincere? Or was he talking about this, because like he didn't wanna die, he wanted to get off of death row? Sean's step siblings,
they refuse to believe that his conversion was sincere. They thought he was doing it
so he wouldn't get put down. Prison officials, they did not believe that he had converted, except for one guy, it was the prison chaplain. He believed that Sean
was telling the truth that he found God, and was a changed man. So this kind of had
people feeling confused, because Sean was making his way around, talking about how God saved his life, how he's a changed man,
he's a Christian now. And he loves the Bible, in summary. And the Christian community, some were standing behind him. Pastors and stuff, they believed him. And they were like, "You know, we have to stand by
our Christian brother." But there were other Christians, who were like, "But he
murdered three people." So it was like creating some kind of wedge in the Christian community too. So the days are going by,
and Sean's execution date is creeping up closer and closer. And Sean is trying senselessly
to get his case appealed. Even a couple of days
before his execution, he was begging for his case to be overturned, stopped, something. But all of Sean's appeals were denied. It was creating like a hot debate, because a lot of people were like, "Okay, he was only 16 when
he committed these murders, like he shouldn't be on death row. We shouldn't be killing kids." But then the other side
of people were like, "He killed three people,
it doesn't matter, once a killer always a
killer, put him down." People didn't know how
to feel about this one. And death row, it's a very slow process. You sit there forever. So Sean sat on death row
until February 4th, 1999. And he was now 29 years old. So now he's 29 years old, and a lot of people are like, "Well, should he be put down for
the crime that he committed when he was only 16 years old? You know, like he's grown, he's changed. He says he's changed." The Christian community
heard Sean's cries, and believed that he had changed, and some were fighting for his freedom. Others really didn't know what to think, because he was a murderer,
and this is America. And you know how America
feels about murderers. So the crimes that Sean had committed, everyone could agree, they were absolutely
horrible, tragic, awful. But his punishment was a bit much. That's what the people are saying. At this time, Oklahoma had
never executed a prisoner for a crime committed when
they were under 18 years old. But the show must go on. So Sean got to pick his last meal, as all prisoners usually do, right? But his last meal, if you
are curious like myself, he had Chinese food, he
got sweet and sour shrimp. He got fried shrimp, and then he was on his way to be executed, which he was, on February 4th, 1999. At 12:17 a.m., Sean died by
lethal injection into his arms. Five minutes beforehand, during the last five minutes of his life, it was said that Sean
sang Christian songs, before saying, "Here come
Father, I'm coming home." And then Sean turned to the warden, looked him in the eyes and said, "Let's do it, Gary, let's get it on." Sean's last words were a prayer. He made quite the exit. And then the switch in Sean Seller's mind was officially flicked
off for the last time. Sean was the first, and
still remains the only person executed in the United States for a crime committed under the age of 17, since the reinstatement of
the death penalty in 1976. Now in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it was unconstitutional to execute an individual
for a crime committed under the age of 18. Therefore, you can't execute someone who commits an awful
crime under the age of 18. And that my friends, is the very sad story about Sean Sellers. Don't get me wrong, what he did
was awful, absolutely awful. He killed three people. He took three people. I don't know about his parents, because his mom's sounded
like the absolute devil. And to be fair, like I'm not here trying to justify murder at all, but okay, that one makes sense. But I'm saying like the
gas station, Robert Bower, like innocent man, he died, and he did not deserve that, right? What Sean did was awful. I just don't know how I feel about executing someone
under the age of 18. Like that is really sad, but
he murdered three people. So it is a really, I don't know, just a wasted life, honestly. Because of Sean's case though, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, and passed a law saying that
you can't execute anyone under the age of 18,
which I think is good. I don't frickin' know, I don't know. I don't like to play God. I don't like to say
when someone should die, when someone should not. I just, I don't know. Some people deserve the
death penalty truly. And then sometimes I'm like, "Nah, just let 'em rot in prison." That's worse than the death
penalty in my eyes, you know? But I don't frickin' know, I'm
so torn on the death penalty. It's a weird one. I would love to hear down
below your guys's thoughts. Do you think somebody who
commits three murders, like Sean here, under the age
of 18, should be executed? Or do you agree with the U.S.
Supreme Court, by banning it? I would love to hear your guys's thoughts on that down below. The death penalty is so strange. Oh my God, I just thought of something. Do they have the death
penalty in other countries? I didn't even think about that. I know some countries do for sure, but that's not a thing everywhere, huh? Or is it? I don't know, gonna
have to Google that one. Anyways, thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a
wonderful rest of your day. Let me know down below who you want me to talk about next week. You make good choices, and
I'll be seeing you guys. ♪ Later ♪ ♪ Bye ♪ (dramatic music)
Aahahhhh i spaced, thanks for the reminder!!!
Return of the butterfly clips! Man, I love those clips. 🦋✨ I feel like this episode was really well done in general, too. :)