Kim Kardashian has directly tweeted President Donald Trump in a final plea to have Brandon Bernard's execution canceled.
Despite being scheduled to be put to death later today (Thursday, December 10), the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star has taken a personal interest in the case, and is calling for the POTUS to grant Bernard a commutation and allow him to live out the rest of his sentence in prison.
Per Fox News, Bernard is currently being held at the US Penitentiary Terre Haute in Indiana, and has been on death row since his sentencing back in 2000.
In 1999, an 18-year-old Bernard was involved in a robbery that resulted in the deaths of Todd and Stacie Bagley on the Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas.
Now, Kim Kardashian is asking for Bernard's execution to be called off, tweeting on Wednesday, December 9:
"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."
In another tweet, the 40-year-old stated: "Most of the time executions happen, in our names, without a lot of attention given to them. This is unacceptable.
"For the next 24 hours I will be tweeting about Brandon and his case and why his life should be spared by
@realDonaldTrump".
Kardashian - who has long been a vocal advocate for prison reform - first tweeted about Bernard's case on November 29.
Tweeting to her 67 million followers, Kardashian wrote: "A terrible case has been brought to my attention and I need your help. Without it, on December 12th Brandon Bernard is going to be executed for a crime he participated in as a teenager.
"First, I want to say that a terrible crime was committed and me fighting for a stay of execution does not take away from the sympathy I have for the victim's Todd and Stacie Bagley, and their families. My heart breaks for everyone involved."
Kardashian went on to state that "while Brandon did participate in this crime, his role was minor compared to that of the other teens involved, two of whom are home from prison now."
The reality TV star added: "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.
"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."
Kardashian went on to claim that Bernard's attorney "fell short" at his trial by "by not hiring any experts who could have explained to the jury why Brandon decided to leave the video game store that night or how he had grown up in an abusive home, or how his homeless father had left him searching for protection in the streets."
She continued: "His trial attorney also failed to tell the jury how remorseful he was or anything about his background. We now know this testimony would have spared his life.
"In fact, two jurors who have since stated that had they learned about Brandon's background or how at just a few months past 18 his brain was still developing, they would NOT have voted for the death penalty.
"Recently the prosecutor herself- the person who helped put Brandon on death row- has also come forward and asked that his life be spared since he was the least culpable of the five teens involved."
Indeed, per CBS News, former federal prosecutor Angela Moore has lobbied for Bernard's death sentence to be overturned.
When asked why, Moore said it was "the legal reasons, aside from my own personal beliefs, it's the evidence and what we have found out since".
"Mr. Bernard did not shoot and kill the victims in this case," Moore added. "He was not the person who planned this robbery gone wrong."
Per Fox News, if Bernard is executed today (December 10), he will become the ninth federal prisoner to be executed following the Trump administration’s decision to end a 17-year pause in federal executions earlier in 2020.
