President Donald Trump's administration is proceeding with executions as his time in the White House runs out, BBC News reported Friday.
Death row inmate Brandon Bernard died by lethal injection at a U.S. federal detention facility late Thursday after last-minute clemency pleas were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 40-year old Bernard is the youngest to be executed by the U.S. federal government in almost seven decades. He was 18 years old when he took part in a double murder in Texas in 1999.
The imposition of the death penalty during a presidential transfer is unusual - especially during a transition from a capital punishment advocate to an incoming commander in chief like Biden who is against executions.
The last time executions were carried out in a lame-duck period was during Grover Cleveland's presidency in the 1890s.
More than 410,000 people signed a petition calling for Bernard to be spared lethal injection. Based on previous reports, five of the jurors who initially backed capital punishment for Bernard during his sentencing said they want his execution to be stayed.
Bernard's execution drew renewed interest in recent weeks and sparked contention over whether the death penalty was necessary for an individual who was barely an adult when the crime was committed.
Bernard told the family of the couple he killed that he was sorry. The victims' family said that they supported his execution.
Four more executions are being considered for the final weeks of the Trump administration. If they are carried out Trump will have overseen the most executions by a U.S. president in more than a century.
