WESLEY ALLEN MERCER - 6 yo (3/1992) - Mansfield LA

MANSFIELD
— Ask kindergarten teacher Diane Deas about her memories of Wesley
Allen Mercer, and she'll quickly put her hands on a manila file folder
where his name is listed on a 1991-92 Mansfield Elementary class roster,
along with his worksheets containing the unmistakable halting
penmanship of a child who was just learning to print his name and color
within the lines.




Pose the same question
to Sabine District Attorney Don Burkett, and he'll pull a photograph of
the brown-haired child that he still keeps in his desk drawer. Former
DeSoto sheriff's investigator Judson Rives has a copy of the same
photograph that he moved from his desk to his home after retirement.
For
the three, time has not erased their memory of the innocence staring
back at them, even though they'd like to forget the horrors of an
untimely death that no child should endure.
Allen's
young life was cut short 20 years ago today. It was on March 8, 1992,
that the quiet, small-framed 6-year-old succumbed to abuse that once
revealed shocked the community.
His
mother, Yvonne Mercer Sepulvado, and stepfather, Chris Sepulvado,
ultimately were convicted of manslaughter and first-degree murder,
respectively. The harshest penalty was reserved for Chris Sepulvado, who
was sentenced to death.
And
even though it's been 19 years since Chris Sepulvado was sent to death
row, he's no closer to execution. He's failed to gain relief through a
multitude of state and federal appeals, but his attorney, Marty Stroud,
has not given up his pursuit of getting the DeSoto district attorney's
office to consider an agreement to commute Chris Sepulvado's sentence to
life.
Stroud
started those discussions years ago with Burkett when he served as
DeSoto's district attorney. Burkett said he never agreed to the offer.
Richard
Johnson, who took over the DeSoto DA's office three years ago, said
he's received the same communication from Stroud, but "that is something
I don't want to do. I will be moving forward in getting a death warrant
signed."
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20120308/NEWS03/203080314/Today-marks-20th-anniversary-Mansfield-child-s-abusive-death?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE