In the time preceding his execution, controversy arose over whether Bernard should have been sentenced to death and executed, in part because of President Donald Trump's lame-duck status.[13][14] Bernard's legal team filed appeals on the basis that his prosecutor withheld the information that he was a low-level gang member, making him less likely to be a future offender. This revelation, combined with concerns that Bernard's attorneys did not adequately defend him at trial, convinced five out of the nine living jurors who voted to convict Bernard to advocate for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison.[15] Former federal prosecutor Angela Moore, who had initially argued for upholding the death sentence on appeal, also pressed for Bernard's sentence to be commuted to life.