Brandon Bernard Scheduled for Execution Despite Jurors Changing Their Minds
The federal execution of Brandon Bernard is set to go ahead on December 10, the first of five before the end of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Kim Kardashian West is among those urging clemency for the row inmate.
Brandon Bernard, 40, was convicted of murder when aged 18 and would be the youngest offender executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years.
If the five take place, President Trump will have overseen the most executions by a US president in more than a century.
It would bring to 13 the total of federal executions since July.
The executions break with an 130-year-old precedent of pausing executions amid a presidential transition. Joe Biden becomes president on January 20.
Brandon Bernanrd is scheduled to begin the five executions, along with 56-year-old Alfred Bourgeois. They are both scheduled to be put to death at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
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Bernard was given the death penalty for his involvement in the murder of Todd and Stacie Bagley in June 1999.
He was one of five teenagers accused of robbing the pair and forcing them into the back of their car in Texas.
They were shot in the car by 19-year-old accomplice Christopher Vialva before Brandon Bernard set the car alight.
Defense lawyers say both of the Bagleys probably died before the car was set on fire.
An independent investigator hired by the defense said Stacie was medically dead before the fire.
However, government testimony during the trial claimed that although Todd Bagley died instantly, Stacie had soot in her airway, signaling that she had died from smoke inhalation and not the gunshot wound.
Brandon Bernard’s lawyers claim he feared what would happen to him if he refused to follow the orders of Christopher Vialva, who was executed in September.
Others involved in the incident were given prison sentences as they were under 18 and classed as juveniles.
Brandon Bernard’s lawyers argue that he should be given life in prison without parole as throughout his time in jail, he has maintained a good record and worked with outreach programs to stop people from getting involved in crime.
The federal prosecutor who defended Brandon Bernard’s death sentence has since called for Bernard to see out his sentence in prison.
Five of the surviving nine jurors have called for President Trump to commute Brandon Bernard’s death sentence.
Tens of thousands of other people have urged the president to grant Bernard clemency.
Kim Kardashian West has sent numerous tweets about Brandon Bernard’s case to her followers, urging them to get behind the cause and raise awareness.
She is studying to be a lawyer in California and has previously helped sway criminal cases.
In March, Kim Kardashian visited the White House with three women whose jail terms were cut by President Trump.