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Thread: Brandon Michael Council - Federal Death Row

  1. #21
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    UPDATE: Judge halts jury selection to consider delaying Brandon Council’s request to delay trial

    By Danielle Barilla
    WMBF News

    MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - A judge ruled Tuesday that jury summons will not be sent out yet, pending a ruling on a motion to delay the trial against Brandon Michael Council.

    Council faces two charges of murder for the deaths of Donna Major and Katie Skeen, who were killed during the robbery of the CresCom Bank in August 2017.

    In a motion filed September 20, the defense asked the judge to delay jury selection and the trial claiming Council’s attorneys need more time to prepare. According to those documents, the trial is set to begin January 14.

    In a response also filed Tuesday, the prosecution says it believes a 90 day continuance will give counsel enough time to prepare. However, they claim the defense is making the same arguments it made when the initial trial date was set. According to government's response, the prosecution asked for a November trial date and the defense asked for a date in April 2018.

    July 17, the U.S. District Court of South Carolina filed documents detailing the jury selection process for the trial, including a jury summons and questionnaire being sent to 2,000 randomly chosen people from a district-wide pool October 1.

    The judge says the clerk will not send those jury summons until the court rules on the motion to continue.

    http://www.wmbfnews.com/2018/09/26/u...t-delay-trial/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #22
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    Prosecution responds to defense’s motion to strike the death penalty in case against Brandon Council

    By Danielle Barilla
    WMBF News

    MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Federal prosecutors filed two responses to defense motions in the case against Brandon Michael Council, including defending the decision to pursue the death penalty.

    Council faces a death sentence after he allegedly shot and killed Katie Skeen and Donna Major during the robbery of the CresCom bank in Conway in August 2017.

    MOTION TO STRIKE THE DEATH PENALTY

    Among the new documents filed Wednesday was the government’s response to the defense’s motion to strike the death penalty.

    In the response, prosecutors cited precedent the case against convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof. The government says, similarly to that case, the defense fails to give a compelling legal or factual reason to dismiss the death penalty.

    MOTION TO STRIKE NON-STATUTORY AGGRAVATING FACTORS

    Another motion filed by the defense September 12 asked the court to strike non-statutory aggravating factors. An aggravating factor is defined as any fact or circumstance that increases the severity or guilt of a criminal act.

    The government said in its notice of intent to seek the death penalty, it plans to examine factors including victim impact, Council’s continuing and escalating pattern of criminal activity, targeting innocent victims and lack of remorse.

    Council’s attorneys argue victim impact in this case is unconstitutional. However, the prosecution says that testimony from family and friends is important saying, "(Council) knew he took away the lives of unique persons when he killed the victims and he knew that his actions would have a profound effect on those who loved them. He must not now be able to shield himself from hearing the stories of that loss and having his sentencing jury consider those stories when making the reasoned moral decision of whether to sentence him to death.”

    The defense asked the court for more notice for that described victim testimony. The prosecution argues that would be unfair to the victims’ family members and friends because it would essentially require them to preview or script their testimony.

    Prosecutors claim “the victims’ deaths took an emotional toll on each of these ‘survivors,’ and that emotional toll is renewed every time they are asked to talk about the victims.” The response also argues that pain is not something the court should ask the witnesses to do more than once or require the witnesses to script.

    Those victim impact statements may come from the victims’ friends, co-workers and employer. Prosecutors say this testimony will give the jury a view of unique characteristics of the victims because they were murdered in a small bank branch in a tight-knit community. For that reason, the government wants the jury to hear the loss the community feels to help jurors see a full picture of the damage caused by Council’s alleged actions.

    TARGETING INNOCENT VICTIMS, ESCALATING PATTERN OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AND LACK OF REMORSE

    The defense wants the court to drop other arguments from prosecutors, including the fact that the victims were innocent. The government argues Council could have successfully robbed the CresCom bank without murdering two of its employees.

    Prosecutors also argue Council’s escalating pattern of criminal activity is valid in this case because he’s accused of committing multiple other robberies within days of the CresCom bank robbery and murders.

    As for the fourth factor, lack of remorse, the government says during an interview August 23, Council provided extensive evidence of lack of remorse. However, Council’s statement is currently sealed and the government could not detail in these documents how that lack of remorse is demonstrated. The response says, “…even a quick review of the sealed statement makes it clear that the Defendant’s attitude after the murders and robbery was incompatible with remorse.”

    In addition to these new documents, we’ve learned there will be a hearing October 18 on the motion to delay the trial. Originally, jury selection was scheduled to begin at the beginning of this month. That hearing will take place at 2:00 PM at the federal courthouse in Florence.

    https://www.wmbfnews.com/2018/10/10/...andon-council/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #23
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    Trial date set for accused gunman in Conway CresCom Bank murders

    By Jo Brown
    WBTW News

    CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – The trial for the man accused of killing two women in an August 2017 bank robbery in Conway is delayed until September 2019.

    Brandon Council walked into the CresCom Bank in Conway on Aug. 21, 2017, pulled out a gun and shot and killed Donna Major, of Conway, and Kathryn "Katie" Skeen, of Green Sea, according to federal prosecutors.

    Brandon Michael Council, 32, of Wilson, North Carolina, is charged with two counts of murder, among other federal and state charges, related to the killings of the two CresCom Bank employees.

    Court documents reveal Council admitted to the murders.

    Bank video shows Council approach a teller and speaks with her briefly. "Council then pulls a firearm, points it at the teller and shoots her multiple times," court documents state. "Council then jumps over the teller counter. Council is also captured locating a second female employee of the bank who was hiding underneath a desk. Upon finding her, the video captured Council shooting the employee multiple times as she attempts to hide under the desk."

    According to the US attorney general, Council could receive life without the possibility of parole or death for the first two federal charges.

    Despite the evidence presented in court documents, Council's lawyer asked the court to enter a not guilty plea in Oct. 2017.


    New court documents filed Wednesday show Council’s defense team requested the trial to be continued to September 2019. The defense lawyers say they need more time to prepare.


    The trial was originally set to begin January 2019. The most recent court documents state jury selection with trial to follow will begin on or about Sept. 9, 2019.

    https://www.wbtw.com/crime/grand-str...ers/1566358856

    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #24
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    Double murder suspect says Florence jail violating his constitutional rights

    By Elizabeth Thomas
    WPDE News

    FLORENCE COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — The man facing the death penalty in a deadly bank robbery is asking the court to return him to general population.

    Brandon Council is awaiting trial in a federal capital case in which he's accused in the deaths of two bank employees killed during a robbery at CresCom Bank on 16th Avenue in Conway on the afternoon of Monday, Aug. 21, 2017.

    Donna Major, 59, of Conway, and Kathryn "Katie" Skeen, 36, of Green Sea, were killed in the robbery.

    Council is being held in the Florence County Detention Center, where he is currently in the Maximum Segregation Unit (MSU) "because he is a federal detainee, facing the death penalty, and concerns of general suicide ideations, and because Mr. Council violated the jail's policy against masturbation."

    In the motion filed Monday, Council is asking for access to basic writing materials and to be returned to gen pop.

    "He has never physically threatened, yelled, or even been in a fight with anyone there. He has never possessed a weapon. He has never expressed suicidal ideations. Yet, he is being punished by the jail because of his status. This is unconstitutional," the motion reads.

    The MSU differs from gen pop, in that inmates are sequestered and are confined to their solitary cells for 23.5 hours each day.

    "He has no opportunity to attend any programming or religious services. This extreme isolation and severe restrictions have been in place for no constitutionally valid reason and with no end date."

    The motion goes on to state that Council has been deprived access to basic writing materials such as pencil, paper and envelopes, denying him the ability to write his attorneys, communicate, receive and review legal mails, despite reported repeated requests.

    "The conditions of his confinement and the restrictions imposed on him in the MSU violate Mr. Council's First and Sixth Amendment rights, his due process rights to assist in the preparation of his defense, and interferes with effective communication with his defense team."

    Council has prior convictions in North Carolina, including habitual felon, and he has been accused in a separate bank robbery in Wilson, North Carolina, around the same time as the CresCom robbery.

    More than 2,000 people in South Carolina will be sent a summons to be a potential juror in the trial.

    Council faces the death penalty if convicted.

    https://wpde.com/news/local/double-m...utional-rights
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #25
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    Judge denies request to delay death penalty trial in fatal 2017 bank robbery

    By Tim Renaud
    WPDE News

    CONWAY, S.C. (WCBD) – A judge has denied a request to delay the death penalty trial of the man accused of a deadly South Carolina bank robbery.

    Brandon Council is accused of killing two female CresCom Bank employees and taking approximately $15,000 in cash during a 2017 robbery in Conway.

    Last week, a judge approved a request to seal certain documents. They include attorney-client communications and defense strategy.

    Council is being held at the Darlington County Jail. He was moved from the maximum-security unit at the Florence County Jail after filing a motion to be moved into the general population.

    Council claimed he needed to be moved to effectively communicate with his legal team.

    https://www.counton2.com/news/judge-...-bank-robbery/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #26
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    Lawyers quiz potential jurors ahead of Brandon Council’s double-murder trial

    By Alex Lang
    Myrtle Beach Sun News

    FLORENCE - Potential jurors for Brandon Council’s federal death penalty trial now face in-person questions from attorneys as the sides work to find a panel to hear the case.


    Council was in federal court in Florence on Monday as jury selection continues. What started with thousands of potential jurors is now down to hundreds. Council faces the death penalty for his alleged role in a double-murder and robbery at the Conway CresCom bank in 2017.


    Lawyers for the government and the defense quizzed a handful of jurors, mainly about their thoughts of the death penalty during Monday’s proceedings. Lawyers asked people if they believe they could sentence someone to death and whether they believed that is the only punishment for felony murder.


    Council wore a gray sports coat, khaki pants and a blue and white striped shirt as he listened to the questions. He looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as he heard people talk about his possible future. Several defense attorneys and experts joined him at his defense table.


    The jury selection process is expected to take most of the week. Once it is complete, the guilt phase of the trial will start. If convicted, Council then faces sentencing and the same jury will decide whether he should be executed or spend the rest of his life behind bars.


    Defense attorneys have previously offered a plea deal that would see Council serve life in prison, but it was rejected.


    Council, of Wilson, N.C., was indicted on charges of armed robbery resulting in death, using a firearm in a violent crime that resulted in murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is accused of shooting Kathryn Davis Skeen and Donna Major while robbing the CresCom Bank in Conway on Aug. 21, 2017.


    Both Skeen and Major worked at the bank.

    https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/ne...234878757.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #27
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    ‘He chose to kill’: Death penalty trial evidence gives details of CresCom double murder

    By Alex Lang
    Myrtle Beach Sun News

    FLORENCE - For many, Aug. 21, 2017, was a day to remember as it was a full eclipse. People gathered with friends and family to watch the sight. For employees and their families at the Conway CresCom Bank it was memorable for the wrong reasons.

    “For Donna Major and Katie Skeen it was horrific,” said Nathaniel Williams, a federal prosecutor.

    The two employees were inside the bank around 1 p.m. when a man entered. He stood around for a few moments, then shot Major, who tried to protect herself with paper. The suspect ran into Skeen’s office and murdered her as she hid under a desk.

    “This defendant chose murder. He chose to kill. He decided when their lives would end,” Williams said.

    “He!” the lawyer exclaimed and pointed to Brandon Council in a federal courtroom, “this defendant made the choice [to kill].”

    Council is on trial for killing the two women. His case is being heard by a jury in a federal courtroom in Florence and if convicted Council faces the death penalty. Tuesday marked the start of the trial with opening statements, surveillance video from inside the bank and witness testimony.

    Council’s attorney Duane Bryant admitted his client committed the killings, but he said they were having a trial for guilt because the government announced its intention to seek the death penalty and because there needs to be closure. He also expressed regret on Council’s behalf.

    “Closure for the family,” Bryant said. “Closure for the community and closure for the state of South Carolina.”

    Members of the Skeen and Major families packed a few rows of the courtroom as some cried or hid their eyes from the evidence shown on nearby television screens. Others stoically stared at the video of their loved one’s murders.

    Council showed no emotion as he sat at his table and spoke to his lawyers.

    The evidence allowed the public its first, detailed version of what happened inside the bank on Aug. 21.

    BEFORE THE KILLINGS

    Days before the Conway murders, Council robbed a grocery store and a BB&T bank branch in North Carolina, Bryant said. Council used the ill-gotten money to buy his girlfriend a $600 car and himself marijuana and cocaine.

    Council knew police were looking for him and convinced friends to drive him to Georgia. Instead, he stopped at the Conway Express motel off U.S. Highway 501 and 16th Avenue. Just a few hundred yards away was the CresCom bank.

    Council spent his money on the room, drugs and things to eat, which Bryant said made him basically homeless. Federal prosecutors said at the hotel Council plotted his robbery. He also intended to kill those inside, they say.

    On Aug. 21, head teller Donna Major arrived first at the branch. Coworker Kristy Johnson came in a bit later and Branch Manager Katie Skeen was the last to arrive for work. Skeen arrived home early in the morning from a church retreat before going to work.

    The employees chatted about the previous weekend as they opened the branch. Everything was normal, though a bit slow.

    Around 12:45 p.m., Johnson left for her hour-lunch break and asked Skeen if she needed anything as she headed out the branch’s lone door.

    “There was a dark cloud over the office,” Johnson said, “and if I left, I would be caught in the rain.”

    DOUBLE MURDER

    Minutes after Johnson left, Council walked in. His face was uncovered, he wore a blue and white striped polo shirt and freshly pressed jeans. His large, dreadlock hair framed his face. In his wallet was a pre-written note demanding money and making threats Bryant said.

    Council did not try to disguise himself.

    “When the defendant walked in, he looked as normal as anyone walking in the bank,” Williams said.

    Council went up to Major at the teller station and said he wanted to cash a check. He stood just to Major’s left for about 45 seconds as she looked down at the papers in front of her. Council swayed briefly and looked at the front door as he reached into his waist band and pulled out a .22-caliber gun.

    “For some inexplicable reason he chose the gun over the note,” Bryant said.

    Council fired a shot and hit Major in the arm. She reached for the papers and held them up to her face.

    “Hiding behind three sheets of paper, he keeps firing,” Williams said.

    Major, now also shot in the chest, stumbled back to a cornered-off storage area. The blood from her chest wound was visible on her shirt as she fell to the ground.

    Skeen heard the shooting, and yelled as she hid under her desk. Council ran to her nearby office and shot her in the forehead from close range.

    “He shoots her again in the side just be to sure,” Williams said.

    Council ran back to Major, who is lying on the floor and shoots her in the head.

    For the next few minutes, Council took money out of the cash register, jumped the counter to go to the back of the branch and returned to collect more money. He gets about $15,000 and puts it in a bag.

    Some of the money he stole was “bait bills,” basically money that sets off a silent alarm when it is removed from the teller’s drawer.

    Conway police are on the way, but it’s not uncommon to have an alarm go off at a bank.

    Council, meanwhile, went back into Skeen’s office and stole the keys to her white Chrysler and fled the area in her car.

    POLICE INVESTIGATION

    Conway police officer J. Aklin arrived first. She pulled into the parking lot and looked in the drive-thru window. She then goes into the branch and initially doesn’t see either victim. She heads to the back of the business and emerges, holding her gun.

    “Something just didn’t feel right when I was in there,” she said.

    It’s then, Atklin saw Major lying behind the teller counter. She approaches and quickly realized that Major was injured. The officer left the branch to call for backup and EMS.

    Aklin checked the exterior of the branch and then went back inside where she yelled, “Conway Police!” with her gun drawn. Then-detective Dale Long arrived and the two work to clear the branch of potential danger as a third officer comes in.

    The three go to Major – at this time police are aware of Skeen dead in her office – and Long checks her pulse.

    “I believe she’s been shot in the head,” Long says. “Lock it down.”

    Officers set up a crime scene and started their investigation as Council fled back to North Carolina. Bryant described Council as “going in a circle,” and he returned to the area he was wanted for the previous robberies.

    “He went on a joy ride,” is how Williams described Council’s next movements.

    Council picked up a prostitute and bought drugs in eastern North Carolina. He bought a Mercedes, which Bryant said was a 21-year-old model, using the stolen bank money.

    Police tracked down Council and arrested him days after the killings.

    Council was locked to the wall in a small room where investigators started to question him, Bryant said. Within seconds, before he can be read his rights, Council starts detailing the incident.

    Council asked if the women were dead and police withhold the truth at first. They then inform him Skeen and Major are dead.

    “When he’s told, he cries,” Bryant said. “He tells them over and over Mrs. Major and Mrs. Skeen did not deserve what happened to them.”

    TRIAL STARTS

    Federal prosecutors told the nine-woman, seven-man jury that the evidence will leave no reasonable doubt that Council committed the crimes. Williams said the jury will hear from police, video experts, medical professional and others.

    The defense referenced the penalty phase of the proceedings a handful of times during opening statements. If the jury finds Council guilty, the same jury will then decide whether Council should be executed or spend his life in prison. During that phase, it’s expected members of the Skeen and Major family will testify.

    As he concluded his opening statements, Williams told the jury that Council intended to rob the bank, kill those inside and believed he would get away or be killed by police.

    “He chose to kill, he chose to murder these two wonderful people for nothing more than easy money,” Williams said. “They were nothing more than collateral damage.”

    https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/ne...235168417.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #28
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    ‘I’m a doofus’: Brandon Council details CresCom robbery, double-murder in police interview

    By Alex Lang
    Myrtle Beach Sun News

    FLORENCE - “I’ve made some bad decisions, and it’s time for me to pay some consequences.”

    That is what Brandon Council told FBI investigators hours after he was arrested in connection to a double murder and robbery at the Conway CresCom bank.

    For over 90 minutes, a handcuffed Council told agents about the days before the killings and why he shot two employees at the bank. A video of the interview was played during Council’s death penalty trial in federal court on Wednesday.

    Council told the officers how he was essentially homeless and had no money. He went to the bank on Aug. 21, 2017, with a plan to shoot people to make his escape easier.

    “I pray to God those people are still alive,” Council said, “but at the same time, I knew someone was going to get hurt that day because of circumstances."

    EARLIER ROBBERIES

    Days after the killing of Donna Major and Katie Skeen, police apprehended Council in Greenville, North Carolina. He visited a Super 8 motel looking for a room, but an employee recognized him from news reports and declined to rent him a room.

    The Super 8 employee called the police and let them know Council was in the area.

    The employee, other witnesses and Greenville police officers took the witness stand during the second day of the guilty phase of Council’s trial.

    Greenville police spotted Council driving a white Mercedes — which he bought with money from the CresCom robbery — and followed him to a Baymont motel. There, they approached the suspect and Council briefly ran before police tackled and arrested him.

    On Wednesday, Council’s defense team was more aggressive in its cross-examinations. The lawyers let some witnesses on Tuesday be excused without asking any questions. They questioned Greenville police of Council’s actions when they approached. The officers admitted Council was not hostile or aggressive during his arrest other than briefly fleeing.

    At the Greenville police station, FBI agents spoke to Council inside a small room. Council’s left arm was handcuffed to the wall, though he tried to conceal his arm in his T-shirt sleeve.

    Council provided details of his life and his crime spree and at the end of the interview asked if he was cooperative.

    Council lived in North Carolina and had family and girlfriend trouble in August 2017. He was released from a North Carolina prison in November 2016 after serving six years behind bars. He worked at a nearby Wendy’s.

    His father accused him of selling drugs out of their Wilson, North Carolina house, Council said.

    That fight led to Council being kicked out of the home and moving in with his girlfriend. He then robbed a Raleigh-area Food Lion for a couple hundred bucks. Days later, he robbed a Wilson, North Carolina, BB&T for a couple thousand dollars.

    “I almost got away with it,” he said, though it’s unclear if he was referring to that robbery or all of his crimes.

    Council said when he got a message from his mom that the police stopped by his house looking for him in connection to the BB&T robbery that is when he skipped town and came to Conway. When agents asked why he came to South Carolina, Council said with a smile “because I just robbed a bank in North Carolina.”

    He stayed for a few days at the Conway Express Inn, across the street from the CresCom. Council ran out of money, so he decided to go to the bank.

    INSIDE CRESCOM

    “What did you do?” an agent asks.

    “I did it,” Council says, without further explanation. “I don’t know if I can bring words out of my mouth to say it.”

    Council said he took a .22 caliber gun — one he bought from a stranger in North Carolina for $40 — into the bank. He admitted to being irritated as Major took a long time to wait on him as he stood at the counter. But, he said it wasn’t the annoyance that led to the shooting.

    “I knew what I was going to do when I went in there,” he said.

    Council said he shot Major twice and ran towards Skeen’s office when he heard her scream. Skeen hid under a desk.

    “I told her I was sorry and then shot her twice,” Council said.

    As he talked about the Conway robbery, Council choked up and started to cry. His emotion became evident when he asked if Major and Skeen were still alive. Agents initially told Council they were hurt, and after Council pleaded, the agents said they were dead.

    “I had to make sure they couldn’t call authorities,” Council said, adding that he didn’t “overkill” them.

    He also told the FBI he initially believed he was going to die in a shootout with police. Instead, Council took the keys off Major’s teller counter and the keys from Skeen’s purse. He stole Skeen’s car and fled back to North Carolina.

    There, Council picked up a prostitute and spent time at a hotel watching The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family. The next day he went to the Greenville area where he met a man outside a plasma center.

    Council paid the person to put the Mercedes in his name as Council did not have insurance or a diver’s license. The rest of that day was spent partying at a hotel. The next day, police apprehended Council.

    “I’m a doofus, I’m an idiot,” Council said as he described his “f*****-up” decision-making. “I don’t deserve to live,” he said.

    He described the “pain” he felt due to his family strife and being broke. He said if he was presented with the same situation, the outcome would have been different and he should have just been a bum.

    “I don’t believe in trying to excuse your behavior,” Council said. “I just felt like I was at the bottom and nothing to lose.”

    https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/ne...235215272.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #29
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    Defendant's mental state delays SC death penalty trial

    A death penalty trial for a man charged with killing 2 South Carolina bank employees during a robbery is on hold.

    A federal judge Friday delayed Brandon Council's trial at least through the weekend after defense attorneys asked for an evaluation to determine if he is mentally competent.

    The attorneys said in court papers Council appeared to be unable to understand the charges against him or help his defense after prosecutors rested their case Thursday.

    Authorities say Council killed a teller and manager at CresCom Bank in Conway in August 2017.

    Council's lawyers say he is guilty, but they are fighting to keep him from facing the death penalty.

    Prosecutors showed video of Council's confession. He cries and says he is sorry after learning the women he shot were dead.

    (source: Associated Press)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #30
    Member Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Posts
    76
    7.5 years is too much time for larceny. Dude lost half his 20’s over that. Then when these people finally get released, they have no idea how to make it in society because, for most of their adult life, prison is all they’ve known.
    He deserves the DP for killing those 2 ladies, though, IMO. If he was so desperate for money, he coulda found a way to get it without harming anyone.

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