A former federal prosecutor whose case sent a man to death row said it would be difficult to see a “merciless killer” get off his sentence after President Biden decided to commute the sentences of nearly all federal prisoners facing execution Monday.
Brandon Council, from North Carolina, was sentenced to death by a federal jury on October 3, 2019, after being found guilty of murdering two women who worked at a South Carolina bank during a 2017 robbery.
Council was one of 37 convicted murderers sentenced to life in prison without parole after Biden reclassified death sentences.
Derek Shoemake, a former South Carolina district attorney and one of the federal prosecutors in the case against Congress, told Fox News Digital that pursuing justice for victim Donna Major was “one of the greatest professional honors” of his life. Catherine Skeen, 59, 36, and her family are heartbroken by Biden’s decision.
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Donna Major, 59, and Kathryn (Katie) Skeen, 36, were murdered in cold blood by Brandon Council during a robbery at a South Carolina bank in 2017. (Derek Shoemake)
“Donna and Katie were amazing women, wonderful mothers and beacons of light in their community,” Shoemake said in a statement. “My thoughts and prayers are with their family today and my heart breaks as they process this news.” said.
He also said his thoughts and prayers were with the team “who have worked for over a year” to bring justice for Major and Skeen “to ensure that the merciless killer receives a sentence that speaks to the horrific nature of his senseless crimes.”
Brandon Council is one of 37 federal death row inmates who avoided the death penalty due to President Biden’s decision to commute his sentence. (DeathPenaltyInfo.org)
According to a 2017 press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina (USAO-SC), Council broke into CresCom Bank in Conway, South Carolina on August 21, 2017, with the intent to rob the business and kill its employees. ).
At the time, USAO-SC said that once inside, Major, a bank teller, was shot multiple times with a revolver. He then ran into Skeen’s office, where she worked as a bank manager, and shot her multiple times while hiding under her desk.
Before leaving the bank, he stole car keys, bank cards and more than $15,000 in cash from both victims. He took one of the vehicles to the motel where he was staying, then packed his belongings and drove away.
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“It is difficult to see a sentence 400 miles away erased after it was lawfully imposed by a jury of men and women from South Carolina who spent weeks listening to the evidence, considering it, and carefully deciding on the appropriate punishment,” Shoemake said. He said.
He also said he was heartbroken that the victims’ families “will be celebrating another Christmas without their loved ones.” Meanwhile, City Council is “celebrating a political victory” as one of 37 federally convicted murderers.
Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of death row inmates sparked a social media frenzy
Most of the federal death row inmates are housed at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
Shoemake said his focus was not on the political debate surrounding Biden’s commutations but on the “legacy of love, family and faith” that Major and Skeen embodied.
“I pray for their families, as always, and I pray for all the families of the victims affected today,” he said.
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Former Vice President Biden said in a White House statement announcing the commutation that day, “We condemn the murderers and their despicable acts,” and mourn the victims and their families who have suffered “unimaginable and irreparable loss,” but “We cannot turn around and remain silent.” “There is no,” he said. “The new government will resume executions that I stopped,” he said.
President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates and converted them to life imprisonment. He leaves Tree of Life synagogue gunner Robert Bowers (left), Charleston church gunner Dylann Roof (center), and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (right). (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, from left, Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, FBI via AP)
As Biden’s presidency nears its end, there are only three people on federal death row. They are Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
