A Black man was executed by the federal government Thursday for a crime he committed at age 19, even though his attorney said prosecutors used inflammatory racial stereotypes during the trial 20 years ago to land her client on death row.
The man, Christopher Vialva, 40, was executed Thursday evening at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
There were 11 white jurors and one Black juror in the 2000 federal trial, said Vialva's attorney, Susan Otto.
Otto said there was no evidence that Vialva was a leader or a real member of the so-called 212 PIRU Bloods gang.
She said that he and his friends encountered the couple after Vialva was kicked out of his mother's home and that, having nowhere to go, the group made a plan to rob someone.
Otto said it was a very convincing narrative to frame to the jury that Vialva and Brandon Bernard, his co-defendant, who is also Black, were part of a violent gang.
Otto pointed to what she said was Vialva's growth as a person during his time in prison, saying he studies a Messianic faith and has "overwhelming remorse" for his actions.
Otto also said that Vialva was developmentally about three years younger at the time of the killings and that when she met him in 2003, he was still struggling to read.
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