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Image posted, Courtesy of Bernard’s defense team
Bernard’s defenders tried to prevent his execution.
A federal death sentence has been carried out in the United States on a prisoner sentenced to death, the first of five executions to take place before the end of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Reality star Kim Kardashian West is among those people who have apologized for Brandon Bernard.
Bernard, 40, was convicted of murder when he swallowed at 18 and is the youngest criminal to be executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years.
If all five executions are carried out, Trump will be the US president who has overseen the largest number of executions in more than a century.
This brings the total number of federal executions to 13 since last July.
These executions break a precedent of 130 years of moratorium on executions during the presidential transition. President-elect Joe Biden will officially become president of the United States on January 20.
Image posted, Thassos Catopodis
President of the United States, Donald Trump
The Brandon Bernard case
Bernard was executed Thursday night (US time) in a Terre Haute, Indiana prison.
Bernard had been sentenced to death in connection with the murders of Todd and Stacy Bagley in June 1999.
Bernard was one of five teens accused of robbing the couple and throwing them in the trunk of their car in Texas.
The couple were shot and killed while in the car by Christopher Vialva, a 19-year-old partner in crime, before Bernard set the car on fire.
Defense attorneys say Bagley’s spouses likely died before the car caught fire.
An independent investigator employed by the defense team said Stacy was “medically dead” before the car was burned.
However, government testimony during the trial claimed that although Todd Bagley died instantly, Stacey had a respiratory tract infection, indicating that she died from smoke inhalation and not from the gunshot wound.
Bernard’s lawyers say he feared what would happen to him if he refused to obey the orders of Vialva, who was executed last September.
The other people involved in the accident were sentenced to prison for being under 18 years of age and classified as minors.
Bernard’s lawyers believe that he should have been sentenced to life in prison without parole, as during his time in prison, he maintained a good record and worked with awareness programs to prevent people from getting involved in crime.
Who defended it?
The federal prosecutor who defended Bernard’s death sentence has asked that Bernard serve his prison sentence.
Angela Moore wrote in an opinion piece published in the “Indianapolis Star” newspaper, saying: “After I learned a lot since 2000 about the maturation of the human mind, and after I saw Brandon transform into a humble adult person and repentant fully capable of living in peace in prison, so what if saying that she is among the small class of criminals who should be executed?
Five of the nine surviving jurors asked President Trump to commute Bernard’s death sentence.
Tens of thousands of people urged President Trump to grant Bernard amnesty, including Senators Richard Durban and Cory Brooker.
Prominent attorneys Allen Dershowitz and Ken Starr joined Bernard’s defense team.
Kim Kardashian West sent many tweets about Bernard’s case to her Twitter followers, urging them to endorse the case and raise awareness about it.
The reality TV star is studying law to become a California attorney and previously helped influence criminal cases.
And last March, Kim visited the White House with three women whose prison terms had been lowered by President Trump.
