The United States federal government has executed Brandon Bernard, a Black man from Texas involved in the 1999 killing of a couple, as appeals across several weeks from advocacy groups, jurors and others for a stay to his execution went unheeded.

Bernard, 40, was given a lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and media witnesses reported his death at 02:32 GMT.

Bernard is the ninth federal inmate who has been executed since July, when US President Donald Trump lifted a 17-year freeze on federal executions – a move that drew condemnation from human rights and civil liberty groups.

Bernard was 18 when he and four other teenagers participated in the murders of Todd and Stacie Bagley, a couple on their way from a Sunday church service in Killeen, Texas.

His case drew the attention of anti-death penalty advocates, celebrities and others across the US due to several factors they said should have granted him a stay of execution, including his age when the crime occurred and how race influenced his sentencing.

Source:aljazeera.com