Death of a death row inmate in the US

Christopher Sepulveda, an 81-year-old American prisoner suffering from a terminal illness, died in his cell on Saturday, March 25, according to the Independent.

He had spent the past 30 years in prison; officials at the notorious Angola State Prison stated that his death was due to natural causes resulting from complications from pre-existing medical conditions.

According to plans, the inmate was scheduled to be executed in March by nitrogen hypoxia (asphyxiation with nitrogen gas).

Sepulveda’s lawyer said in a statement that doctors had recently diagnosed him with a terminal illness and recommended hospice care.

He also said the overnight death of Christopher Sepulveda in the prison infirmary is a sad description of the state of death penalty in Louisiana; Sepulveda was flown to New Orleans for surgery earlier this week but was returned to prison Friday night.

Louisiana officials announced earlier this month that they would resume executions after a 15-year hiatus, after the state failed to secure the drugs needed to carry out lethal injections.

Louisiana’s Republican governor last year expanded the state’s execution methods to include electrocution and hypoxic nitrogen.

Louisiana will also carry out an execution on March 18.

The first hypoxic nitrogen death in the United States was carried out last year in Alabama; the state has executed four people using the method.