Brandon Bernard.

The African American man, was part of a gang who abducted, robbed and murdered two white youth ministers in 1999.

Well, he's the ninth federal inmate to have been put to death since July.

MAWR federal prisoners have been executed in the US this year than in the previous 56 years combined.

Libya DeCecco has this report.

Brandon Bernard had been on death row for the last 20 years.

On on Thursday, he became the first federal prisoner to be executed during the presidential transition is one of five that are scheduled if the rest go ahead.

Donald Trump will have overseen the deaths of 13 federal inmates since July this year, more than any president in over a century.

The federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988 but executions were rare.

Just three had taken place since then, and none since 2000 and three.

But in July, the Trump administration resumed the practice after a 17 year hiatus.

Brandon Bernard's case had attracted the support of celebrities like Kim Kardashian West, the reality star and prison reform activists had called on her followers to tweet Donald Trump to save Mr Bernard.

And tomorrow, another federal execution is scheduled at the same penitentiary in Indiana.

These executions come just weeks before Joe Biden takes office, and he has said that he will seek toe end the death penalty.

Thean come bint president would usually defer to his successor and let the president elect set the course.

But Donald Trump's attorney general says he is just following the law.

He says he owes it to the victims and their families to carry forward this sentence label.

DeCecco BBC News, Washington.