Family and loved ones of a man executed in Indiana earlier this month gathered Tuesday to celebrate his life and lay him to rest.
Brandon Bernard was the ninth federal inmate this year to die by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute. A 10th inmate was executed the next day.
Bernard’s case gained unusual attention thanks to a social media campaign and backing from celebrities including Kim Kardashian West. But the U.S. Supreme Court turned down last-minute requests for a stay and he was executed Dec. 10.
Service for Mr. Brandon Bernard from Royal Funeral Home, Inc. on Vimeo.
Michael Boyd was friends with Bernard before the crime that landed him on death row. Boyd spoke about his faith during the service.
“Brandon served as a definition of faith in God, that we all should have — everybody,” Boyd said. “That was a definition of integrity, of faith in God. Even up to the point when he found out that they were going to go ahead with this act, he still had trust in God.”
Bernard was 18 years old and a low-ranking member of a group that kidnapped a young couple visiting Texas in 1999. A different kidnapper, Christopher Vialva, fatally shot them both in the trunk of their car. He was executed in September in Terre Haute.
Prosecutors said Bernard later set the couple’s car on fire and contributed to one of their deaths. Bernard’s attorneys and supporters argued he had no knowledge Vialva planned to shoot the couple and that the shootings alone killed them.
Leading up to the execution, several jurors and a former prosecutor involved in Bernard’s trial, sentencing and appeals argued unsuccessfully for clemency.
