A jury issued a death sentence for a South Carolina man who was convicted in a deadly bank robbery.
Brandon Council was convicted last week of killing two employees at the CresCom Bank in Conway during a 2017 robbery.
The employees were two women, Katie Skeen, 36, and Donna Major, 59. Council fled with about $15,000 and was captured two days later.
Just prior to the deliberations, prosecutor Nathan Williams urged the jury to remember the women who were killed.
“I worry as I stand here that when you go back in the jury room, you forget Donna and Katie,” said Williams.
Not only did Council intentionally kill the women, Williams said, but he has not expressed regret regarding his actions.
Council’s attorney Duane Bryant said Council had a tough upbringing and was a good student until his grandmother died.
He said Council would die in jail if he wasn’t sentenced to death.
“Does he die from lethal injection?” Bryant asked the jury, then referenced God and said, “Or does he die when someone calls for him?”
Family members of the victims testified during the trial, including Major’s children Heather, Doug, and Katie.
They said the loss of their mother has been hard for them and their father, Dan.
Katie, the youngest, said she’s struggled with depression since the killing.
“She was everything to me, my mom, she was my best friend and believed in me,” Katie said in court.
