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From: Elle kari karlsson, Johan Edgar
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A double murder committed more than 20 years ago has reignited the debate on the death penalty in the United States. Among others, reality star Kim Kardashian West has gotten involved.
Brandon Bernard was executed last night for a crime he committed at the age of 18, the first execution of such a young criminal in 70 years.
Now, President Donald Trump is planning five more executions before being replaced.
In 1999, two young preachers, Todd and Stacie Bagley, from Iowa, were assaulted and killed during a visit to Texas. Bernard was one of five men convicted of the crime. The shooter, Christopher Vialva, was executed in September. The other accomplices received a lighter punishment.
Bernard’s defense claims that the government has silenced evidence that could change the verdict. Despite this, the courts rejected the claim that the execution should not be carried out.
His lawyers criticized the government’s decision, pointing to testimony that suggested Bernard was the lowest-ranking member of the gang that the government claimed he and the other accomplices were affiliated with.
The defense also printed inaccuracies on the evidence and that Brandon probably would not have been sentenced to death if all had gone well. “Brandon’s life was important,” they said, describing his execution as “a stain on the US judiciary.”
Photo: AP TT NEWS AGENCY
Kim Kardashian West.
Photo: Evan Vucci / TT NEWS AGENCY
Outgoing President Donald Trump is planning five more executions before his term as president ends.
Several celebrities, including reality star and beauty mogul Kim Kardashian West, have become involved in Bernard’s case and have asked President Donald Trump to commute the sentence to life in prison. Five members of the jury who participated in the death sentence have also changed. Since he was a teenager at the time of the murders, his case has rekindled questions about the death sentences of young prisoners.
“After meeting Brandon, I am devastated by the execution,” Kardashian West tweeted on Wednesday. “I urge @realDonaldTrump to let him live life in prison.”
“First, I want to say that a terrible crime was committed and that I am fighting to stop the execution does not detract from the sympathy I have for the victims Todd and Stacie Bagley and their families,” Kardashian West said in the tweet.
“Although Brandon was involved in the crime, his role was less than that of the other teenagers involved, two of whom have now been released from prison,” he added.
Photo: Stacey Brownstein / TT NEWS AGENCY
Brandon Bernard.
Among his last words, Bernard apologized to the family of the couple he killed and the pain he caused his own family, according to a journalist who attended the execution. “I wish I could get everything back, but I can’t.”
Brandon Bernard is the ninth death row inmate to be executed since the Justice Department resumed executions in July this year after a 17-year federal ban. Another man who participated in the double murder was executed in September. The Trump administration has planned five more federal executions before Joe Biden takes office in January.
The mother of one of the victims, Georgia A. Bagley, thanked Trump and the Justice Department in a statement. She called the crime “a senseless act of unnecessary harm.”
“It has been very difficult to wait 21 years for the verdict to be carried out,” Bagley said in the statement.
After the execution, he told reporters that he forgave Bernard and Vialva and said the apology “helped heal my heart.
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