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Kim Kardashian West tweets 'been crying all morning' hours before Brandon Bernard's execution

Kardashian West has been petitioning for clemency for Bernard. She has even tweeted to President Donald Trump asking for Bernard to be pardoned

Hours before the scheduled execution of Brandon Bernard at a federal death chamber in Indiana, Kim Kardashian West tweeted about her grief regarding the matter. Kardashian West tweeted, “Been crying all morning. Brandon Bernard will be executed in 6 hours.” Following that, she wrote on Twitter, “Brandon Bernard will be executed in 5 hours and all I can think about is his family and children and how they will feel when their loved one is gone.” 

She further said, “Something special I learned about #BrandonBernard is that in addition to his work with youth, he also really likes to crochet. He told me this week he wishes he had more time before his execution so he could crochet me a blanket.” And an hour later, she updated her feed once again with: “4 hours until Brandon Bernard will be executed”

Kardashian West has been petitioning for clemency for Bernard. She has even tweeted to President Donald Trump asking for Bernard to be pardoned. The reality star-turned-prison reform advocate first highlighted the case on Sunday, November 29, saying, “A terrible case has been brought to my attention and I need your help.” Bernard, sentenced for robbery and murder, would be the ninth federal prisoner to be executed this year, months after President Donald Trump's administration resumed executions after 17 years. 

Bernard's attorneys have argued that during their client's trial a key piece of evidence was withheld: A witness who stated that Bernard had a low rank in the gang that robbed and murdered Todd and Stacie Bagley. The Bagleys were shot by Christopher Vialva in 1999 at Fort Hood in Texas, while Bernard, who was 18 at the time, set the couple's car on fire with them inside it. 

According to the autopsy reports, Todd died of a gunshot wound while Stacie died of smoke inhalation. Court records revealed that the Bagleys had prayed for their attackers and had begged for mercy. Vialva was executed by lethal injection on September 24 this year.

His lawyers, in a statement to MEAWW, said: "The petition and stay motion point out that the government’s misleading 'predictions' of Mr. Bernard’s future dangerousness were entirely false. In two decades on death row, he has never had a single disciplinary infraction, nor has he had any gang involvement in prison. His application for clemency is supported by the retired warden of the federal prison complex at Terre Haute, who believes that Mr. Bernard poses no danger to staff or prisoners in a less restrictive custody setting."

The execution -- along with that of 56-year-old Alfred Bourgeois on Friday -- is set to proceed despite the fact that eight prison employees who took part in a federal execution last month tested positive for the coronavirus. Prisoners’ rights advocates have argued that the positive cases highlight the potential danger of carrying out executions -- to inmates, to prison staff, and to community members. 

Cassandra Stubbs, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Capital Punishment Project, said in a statement, “The fact that at least 20 percent of the [Bureau of Prison’s] execution team has contracted COVID-19 following Orlando Hall’s execution speaks volumes -- particularly given the fact that we don’t know how many people opted in to be tested. There is no way to conduct these federal executions right now in a way that is safe.”

Kardashian West, over the Thanksgiving weekend, had also urged her Twitter followers to sign a petition urging Trump to commute Bernard’s life sentence.