Innocent Appeal. Liv Houptt started this petition to President Donald J. Trump and 4 others
On December 10th, 2020, at 9:27 PM, Brandon Bernard was pronounced dead. As of his death, he follows 15 other federal executions. The death penalty is cruel and unjust punishment. The reason I created this petition was so that we can look upon ourselves and ask if the death penalty truly achieves justice. What does this teach anybody? Who does this help? President Donald J. Trump and the Supreme Court have blood on their hands tonight. We must recognize how we have failed black men in this country and how we must fix it.
Brandon was a model prisoner and was sentenced to death for burning a car with a dead couple that he did not kill inside of it. He was being held at gunpoint. 5/9 jurors who sentenced him to death regret the decision and don’t believe that he deserved to die. Brandon had two children and a family. The Supreme Court of The United States rejected a petition towards a stay of execution, and his life was taken swiftly. We hope that Heaven treats Brandon more kindly than our justice system did.
A life in prison without parole costs less than an execution by lethal injection. Black men are 19% more likely to be executed for crimes, even when their white counterparts commit similar rates of crime. Brandon Bernard spent his time in prison counseling others not to make the same mistakes he did. He understood that what he did was wrong and knew that his punishment was just.
A life in prison would have been fine for the crime that he committed. The citizens of the United States are tired of watching precious lives die at the hands of the state-sanctioned murder that we call the death penalty. Sign this petition to give justice to those who need it.