VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) -- In just one-week Brandon Bernard is set to be executed here in Terre Haute. This will make him the 9th inmate to be executed this year. In the weeks leading up to his execution date, his family visited him in Terre Haute.
In 1999 Brandon Bernard was convicted of kidnapping and killing youth ministers todd and Stacie Bagley. Alongside Christopher Vialva and others. Vialva was executed back in September. The other men who were involved are now out of prison.
Now, Bernards family continues to visit him while they wait for the date of his execution.
"It hurts, first of all, to know that they want to execute him," Thelma Bernard, his mother said.
"It definitely sucks when I got the news, heartbreaking. Shattered my world," his daughter said.
"My heart is broken over the thought of my nephew being executed," Rahsha Williams, his aunt said.
Coming from all across the country Bernard has his brother, sister, mother, aunt, and daughter visiting him in prison.
"I went there ready to encourage him and be uplifting to him and it was just the opposite. He uplifted us and he's at peace and he has accepted what has happened but he is hopeful," Williams said.
Angela Moore is the former federal prosecutor on Bernard's case. She said they've found evidence since the conviction and sentence. She said it shows Bernard not shooting and killing the victim in the case. His family says the death penalty for bernard is too harsh.
"I don't believe as a parent and a military disabled veteran that the punishment they're giving him does not fit the crime," his mother said.
The only person who can get Bernard off of death row is president Donald Trump. We did try and get in contact with the victim's family. As of now, we have not had luck.
They did give us a statement after Vialvas's execution. In part, saying "We will never know how many people they could have influenced for good if they had been given the chance."
