*The U.S. government has executed the first Black man since the death penalty was resumed this summer after a 17-year hiatus.
Convicted murderer Christopher Vialva, 40, was put to death Thursday for his role in the killing of Todd and Stacie Bagley, white married Christian youth ministers, on the Fort Hood army base in 1999. Vialva was 19 years old in 1999 when he shot the couple and burned them in the trunk of their car.Â
At his trial in 2000, a jury found him and a his accomplice, Brandon Bernard, guilty of carjacking and murder. Bernard’s execution date has not been set, per CBS News.
READ MORE:Â Outrage Over Execution of Death Row Inmate Nathaniel Woods for Murders He Did Not Commit
Vialva was reportedly executed via lethal injection at the execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Here’s more via Reuters:
Under Trump, the Justice Department has now executed twice as many men this year as all of Trump’s predecessors combined going back to 1963. It is the most executions within a single year by the U.S. government since at least 1927, the oldest year of records in a database compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) in Washington.
Of the 56 people on federal death row, 26, or 46%, are Black, and 22, or 39%, are white.
Vialva was the seventh person to be federally executed since July, and the second this week, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The first six were white and the sixth was Navajo.
The last time six or more people were killed in a single year was in 1942, according to Reuters.
In the video statement his lawyers released Thursday, Vialva expressed regret for the murder.Â
“I committed a grave wrong when I was a lost kid and took two precious lives from this world,” he said. “Every day, I wish I could right this wrong.”
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
