'I LOST IT'
Brandon Bernard – Kim Kardashian reveals ‘hardest’ final call with death row inmate, 40, who told her ‘fight isn’t over’
KIM Kardashian West revealed on Thursday afternoon that she "lost it" during her final conversation with inmate Brandon Bernard, who was executed in Indiana hours after their conversation.
The lawyer-in-training described the heartbreaking chat as the "hardest call I've ever had," in which Bernard confided that he was offered a sedative to calm his claustrophobia ahead of his execution.
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"When he told me he’s claustrophobic and they offered to give him a shot of Sedative to calm him down before they put him in the chair and he just didn’t want to panic, I literally lost it," she tweeted.
";I had to mute my phone so he wouldn’t hear me cry like that."
Despite his imminent death, said the two were "hopeful" that they'd speak again, with Bernard telling her that "our fight isn't over."
"Brandon, selfless as always, was focused on his family and making sure they are ok. He told me not to cry because our fight isn’t over," she tweeted.
"We didn’t say goodbye bc we wanted to be hopeful that we would talk again, we said talk to you soon!"
on Thursday evening in Terre Haute, and was pronounced dead at 9:27pm CT.
said that the details of her sister's last conversation with Bernard "broke her heart."
"This just breaks my heart," Jenner tweeted.
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The stepsister of one of Bernard's victims, Stacie Bagley, had asked Kardashian West to reconsider her support for the inmate and instead empathize with the victims' families.
Dana Ladd told on Thursday: "I want her to think about if it was one of her children that Bernard did that to -- would she feel differently? It's easy for people to say things when they don't have similar experiences."
A source close to the reality star told the new outlet that she was heartbroken for both sides and didn't mean to diminish Bagley's death.
Bernard was the ninth prisoner to be executed since the current administration resumed capital punishment following a 17-year break.
"[Four] hours until will be executed," tweeted at 2pm ET ahead of the federal penitentiary execution at Terre Haute, Indiana, today.
At the time of publication, it was 2:30pm CT as Kim continued Bernard's death row execution countdown on .
"Been crying all morning. Brandon Bernard will be executed in 6 hours," Kim tweeted at 12pm ET.
"Brandon Bernard will be executed in 5 hours and all I can think about is and how they will feel when their loved one is gone," Kim wrote at 1pm ET.
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"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."
On Wednesday, Kim called on to commute the 40-year-old's death sentence to allow him to spend the rest of his day behind bars instead insisting his role in the shocking crime was "minor."
She vowed to campaign non-stop during the 24 hours ahead of Bernard's scheduled date with death at the US Penitentiary, which has yet to be halted as of 5.30pm ET.
Something special I learned about #BrandonBernard is that in addition to his work with youth, he also really likes to crochet.
Kim Kardashian
"Brandon Bernard, a 40-year-old father is going to be executed tomorrow by our federal government," Kim wrote.
"Having gotten to know Brandon, I am heartbroken about this execution.
She later added: "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."
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In a series of tweets last month, Kim condemned the double killing but said she didn't think Bernard deserved to die because of something he did when he was 18.
"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." she wrote.
"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."
Bernard was convicted along with four others over the killing of Todd and Stacie in Killen, , in 1999.
The group, all teens at the time, held the Bagleys at gunpoint and robbed them before shooting them, placing their bodies in the trunk of their car, and torching it.
One of Bernard's co-defendants, , thought to be the person who actually shot the couple, on September 24 of this year.
Advocates claimed Bernard was not present when the Bagleys were initially kidnapped and that he didn't know of any intention to kill the couple.
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Attorneys acting in his defense on the grounds that mitigating evidence had not been presented to the court at Bernard's trial in 2000.
However, earlier this week a judge denied the .
Bernard’s lawyers argued that prosecutors withheld a witness who conveyed their client’s low rank in the gang.
But in an order written on Tuesday, Judge James Sweeney of the US District Court of the Southern District of Indiana, said that the expert witness’s account was not compelling enough to overcome the jury’s death sentence decision.
Sweeney wrote that Bernard’s sentence “reflects the actual conduct in this case,” instead of considering “hierarchy in general.”
"Namely, the jury recommended a life sentence for Mr. Bernard where the murder of Mr. Bagley was directly attributable not to Mr. Bernard but to the bullet fired by Mr. Vialva,” Sweeney wrote, according to the .
“And the jury recommended a death sentence for Mr. Bernard only where the murder of Mrs. Bagley was attributable, at least in part, to smoke she inhaled from the fire directly set by Mr. Bernard.”
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Several high-profile figures called for Bernard’s execution to be stayed.
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Over Thanksgiving weekend, Kim asked her Twitter followers to sign a urging Trump to commute Bernard’s sentence to life in prison.
She tweeted that Bernard was involved in a “terrible crime” but “his role was minor compared to that of the other teens involved, two of whom are home from prison now.”
Brandon Bernard apologizes to the families of Todd and Stacie Bagley
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