Kim Kardashian was in tears as she pleaded with President Donald Trump to stop the scheduled execution of convicted murderer Brandon Bernard.
The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star took to Twitter on Wednesday, Dec. 9, to appeal to Trump ahead of Bernard’s scheduled execution on Thursday, Dec. 10.
“Brandon Bernard, a 40-year-old father, is going to be executed tomorrow by our federal government. Having gotten to know Brandon, I am heartbroken about this execution. I’m calling on @realDonaldTrump to grant Brandon a commutation and allow him to live out his sentence in prison.”
With no response from Trump on Thursday, she tweeted: “Been crying all morning. Brandon Bernard will be executed in 6 hours.”
After speaking with Bernard last month, Kardashian wrote:
“While Brandon did participate in this crime, his role was minor compared to that of the other teens involved. In fact, Brandon was not a part of the initial carjacking that took place and was stunned when the robbery turned into a homicide with one of the other teens shooting both Todd and Stacie in the head.”
She continued:
“The gunman then turned to Brandon, gun still in hand, and told him to light the car Todd and Stacie lay in on fire to destroy the evidence. Brandon believed both were dead, though Stacie was not, and was fearful for his own life, so he made the terrible decision to comply.”
Bernard is currently behind bars at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he has been on death row since 2000 for his involvement in a carjacking and robbery that led to the deaths of Christian youth ministers Todd and Stacie Bagley in 1999.
The couple was visiting Texas from Iowa when they were killed in a secluded area of Fort Hood after offering then 18-year-old Bernard and his three teenage accomplices a ride in their car.
They were robbed and shot by Christopher Vialva, then 18, after he forced the couple into the trunk of their car.
Vialva cursed and shot the couple after he opened the trunk and Stacy Bagley told him God loved him.
Todd died from the gunshot but Stacy was still alive when Bernard set their car on fire.
The teens, who were trying to drive away from the scene of the murders, got stuck in a muddy ditch and were still there when police arrived to investigate a report of a suspicious fire.
Vialva, 40, was executed by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana on Sept. 24, 2020.
Bernard is one of five executions set to take place before January 2021 when Trump is expected to leave office if his Supreme Court appeals are denied.
