Brandon Bernard, 40, Executed for 1999 Double-Murder: 'Wish I Could Take It All Back'

Brandon Bernard, 40, Executed for 1999 Double-Murder: 'Wish I Could Take It All Back'

"He was such a reformed person. So hopeful and positive until the end," said Kim Kardashian West, who advocated for his sentence to be commuted

Brandon Bernard became the ninth person executed by the U.S. government after a 17-year hiatus from federal death penalties that ended in July.

On Thursday, the 40-year-old was put to death at the Federal Correctional Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. Bernard was convicted of two counts of murder, among other crimes, for his involvement in the 1999 double murder of youth ministers Todd and Stacie Bagley during a carjacking and robbery, in which Bernard, 18 at the time, was one of three participants but did not pull the trigger.

Todd agreed to give Bernard and his accomplices a ride, according to the DOJ, and they eventually attempted to rob them, moving the couple into the trunk of the car. One accomplice shot Todd and Stacie in the head, killing Todd. Stacie died of smoke inhalation after they lit the vehicle on fire.

One of the accomplices, Christopher Andre Vialva, 40, was executed on Sept. 22. for his role in the murders.

“I’m sorry. That’s the only words that I can say that completely capture how I feel now and how I felt that day,” Bernard said before his death, according to the Associated Press. “I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t.”

USP Terre Haute Brandon Bernard

Among those trying to stop the Dec. 10 execution was the prosecutor who won the guilty verdict against him. Kim Kardashian West also pushed for President Donald Trump to commute Bernard's sentence. The reality TV star was tweeting in the days and hours leading up to the execution, urging her followers to contact officials and ask to save Bernard.

RELATED: Orlando Hall, 49, Executed by U.S. Government for 1994 Kidnapping and Murder of 16-Year-Old Texas Girl

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"I’m so messed up right now," Kardashian West, 40, wrote Thursday night. "They killed Brandon. He was such a reformed person. So hopeful and positive until the end. More importantly he is sorry, so sorry for the hurt and pain he has caused others."

"Brandon wanted me to tell every single person who worked on his behalf supporting him in any way a huge thank you. He was certain he was gonna have the chance to tell you all himself and write you all letters but he told me to tell you all how grateful he is for you!" she added.

The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star explained that Bernard's "main message that he learned in his life was to not hang out with the wrong crowd."

"That was so important to him that he shared that with the youth. It got him caught up and he made poor choices," she wrote. "... I could go on and on about what an amazing person Brandon was. I do know he left this earth feeling supported and loved and at peace. This just has to change: our system is so f----- up."

The AP reports that the mother of victim Todd, Georgia, told reporters after the execution that her family was now given the "closure needed to move on in life," adding that Bernard's apology "helped very much heal my heart."

"I can very much say I forgive them," she said.

On July 14, Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, became the first inmate executed by the federal government in 17 years. The federal execution was the first to be carried out since Attorney General William Barr moved to reinstate the federal death penalty in 2019, after a nearly 20-year moratorium.

Since then, eight others have been executed in 2020, including Bernard and Vialva. The others include Wesley Ira Purkey, 68; Dustin Lee Honken, 52; Lezmond Mitchell, 38; Keith Dwayne Nelson, 45; William Emmett LeCroy, 50; and Orlando Hall, 49.