Brandon Bernard’s planned execution sparks debate over sentencing juvenile offenders



Mr. Bernard was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, among other crimes. “I believe this Brandon boy did not behave like a child when he committed the murders,” said Michael Rushport, chairman of the Criminal Justice Law Foundation. , A legal system that supports crime victims and the death penalty. Mr. Vialva and Mr. Bernard was interrogated together. Mr. Like Brown, the other two defendants, Christopher Lewis and Tony Sparks, were too young to face the death penalty. Brown, who was 15 at the time of the crime, and Mr. Lewis pleaded guilty and prosecuted. Mr. who was 16 years old at the time of the crime. Sparks also pleaded guilty. Mr. Brown and Mr. Lewis was released from federal custody, and Mr. Sparks will be released in 2030, according to the Prisons Bureau’s database. He was originally sentenced to life without parole. Mr. The Courts did not accede to Bernard’s recent request that his execution be delayed. Mr. On what might be Bernard’s last days, Mr. Mr Bernard said he and other defendants were part of a government-affiliated gang. His lawyers said the government had suppressed an expert opinion showing that Bernard had a very low status. Suppressed his lawyers argued, the arbitral tribunal would have changed the calculation of his cousin’s guilt. In September, the Fifth Circuit Mr. Refused to grant any relief in the case relating to the claim to Bernard. His lawyers brought a similar case to a federal court in Indiana, which a judge denied Wednesday. Mr. Opponents of Bernard’s execution include one of the judges in the case, Gary McLaughlin, 56, of Handyman Centerville, Den. In an interview, he said he felt some doubts about the arbitral tribunal’s recommendation on the death penalty, but decided not to wage a united struggle against what appeared to be a consensus. Mr. Angela Moore Bernard, who represented the government during the appeal, and Mr. Vialva’s cases have become anti-death penalty. As a young lawyer at the time, the case felt like “a feather in my cap” and although he had some doubts about the case, he did not believe that airing those concerns would have made a difference.

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