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For the first time in 130 years, an outgoing administration carried out a federal execution during the transition period, ending the life of Brandon Bernard (above) via lethal injection, at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
It was the Trump administration’s ninth federal execution of the year, and four more are planned before Joe Biden takes office at noon on January 20, 2021.
40 more days, and despite his whiny protestations, and embarrassingly flimsy legal challenges, Donald Trump’s time as president will officially be over.
Back to Bernard, whose execution stands out in that it is a rare execution of a person who was in his teens when his crime was committed.
The now 40-year-old was pronounced dead at 9:27PM Eastern time, reports Politico:
Bernard directed his last words to the family of the couple he killed, speaking with striking calm for someone who knew he was about to die. “I’m sorry,” he said, lifting his head and looking at the witness-room windows.
“That’s the only words that I can say that completely capture how I feel now and how I felt that day…I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t.”
Over the past few years, many high-profile figures, such as Kim Kardashian West, had asked Trump to commute Bernard’s death sentence to life in prison.
When Bernard was 18, he and four other teenagers abducted, robbed, and murdered Todd and Stacie Bagley, who were returning from a church service.
A late filing to the Supreme Court to have the execution halted failed.
Christopher Vialva, who pulled the trigger and shot both Bagleys, was executed in September, with Bernard lighting the Bagleys’ car on fire, with their bodies in the trunk.
In arguing his defence, Kardashian West stated the following:
#BrandonBernard should not be executed:
1. He was 18 at the time.
2. He was not the shooter.
3. The prosecutor and 5 of the jurors now support clemency.
4. He’s spent decades in prison w/out a write up, helping at risk youth.
5. There’s bipartisan support for his commutation. pic.twitter.com/18GugdtuOs— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) December 10, 2020
It is reported that Bernard spent his final days launching a death-row crocheting group
More on why his execution was significant:
Federal executions during a presidential transfer of power also are rare, especially during a transition from a death-penalty proponent to a president-elect like Biden opposed to capital punishment. The last time executions occurred in a lame-duck period was during the presidency of Grover Cleveland in the 1890s…
The Justice Department refused to delay Thursday’s execution of Bernard, another inmate Friday and three more in January, even after eight officials who participated in an execution last month tested positive for the coronavirus. The eight federal executions in 2020 already is more than in the previous 56 years combined.
After his execution, Kardashian West tweeted again:
🕊🕊🕊
🕊🕊🕊I’m so messed up right now.
They killed Brandon.
He was such a reformed person. So hopeful and positive until the end. More importantly he is sorry, so sorry for the hurt and pain he has caused others.— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) December 11, 2020
You can read more on Bernard’s final hours, and the Bagley murders, here.
