A terminally ill man who spent over 30 years on death row in Louisiana for the killing of his stepson died days after a March date was scheduled for his execution by nitrogen gas.Christopher Sepulvado,

Louisiana death row inmate Christopher Sepulvado died Saturday his lawyers announced. He had been given an execution date in March.

Sepulvado was Louisiana's oldest prisoner on death row at 81. "The idea that the State was planning to strap this tiny, frail, dying old man to a chair and force him to breathe toxic gas into his failing lungs is simply barbaric,

Christopher Sepulvado, 81, died in custody on the night of Feb. 22, his attorney said in an emailed statement.

The state has never used that method to execute a prisoner. The last time an inmate was killed by a firing squad was in 2010 in Utah.

The only woman on Louisiana Death Row, Antionette Frank, could receive execution date after 30 years of incarceration. Read more about Frank here.

Sepulvado was sentenced to die for the 1992 murder of his 6-year-old stepson, Wesley Allen Mercer, whom authorities said was beaten and scalded to death. The boy’s mother Yvonne Jones was convicted of manslaughter in the death and served more than seven years in prison.

Christopher Sepulvado passed away at approximately 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.

A federal judge in the Middle District Court of Louisiana granted a motion to expedite consideration and reopening of the case.