In 1999, Christopher Vialva hitched a ride with a married couple visiting West Texas for a church revival meeting.
Authorities later found the bodies of Todd and Stacie Bagley in the trunk of their car. Todd Bagley died of a gunshot wound. Stacie Bagley died of smoke inhalation after the car was set on fire.
On Thursday, 20 years after he was convicted of that brutal crime, Vialva is scheduled to face lethal injection. His case stands out only because he’s like most inmates on federal death row: a Black man who murdered white people, when he was very young.
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