Family details Brandon Council’s youth as defense starts case in double-murder trial
Brandon Council was a happy kid, though he grew up in a neighborhood riddled with crime, his friends and family told a federal jury on Monday.
Family, teachers and those who spent time in the same juvenile correctional facility testified on Council’s behalf during the 10th day of his death penalty trial. It is the first time the defense has called any witnesses or provided any lengthy questioning during the case.
Last week the jury found Council guilty of shooting and killing Katie Skeen and Donna Major inside the Conway CresCom bank on Aug. 21, 2017. After shooting the two employees, Council robbed the bank and fled to North Carolina, where police arrested him a couple of days later.
The jury will soon decide if Council should be sentenced to death for his crimes.
Defense attorneys started on Monday to present evidence on why Council should instead spend life in prison.
Council’s aunt, Sherry Lynn, said his biological mother wanted little to do with him. His grandmother raised him, and while she provided structure and guidance, she showed little affection. Lynn said Council was polite and well-behaved as a youngster.
“To this day,” she said, “I cannot even recall Brandon saying a curse word.”
Council’s Wilson, North Carolina, neighborhood had drug dealing and prostitution, Lynn said. Council was only allowed to play in their yard because of the conditions.
“It was just not the type of street you want your children to play on,” Lynn said.
Several friends and school teachers testified they noticed Council becoming more reserved after his grandmother died when he was about 11 years old.
“He cried. He was crushed,” Lynn said. “He said he didn’t know what he was going to do. His mamma was gone.”
Council also spent time during his adolescent years at Dobbs Youth Development Center in North Carolina. At that time, the center was described as an educational facility, but experts and a state audit found it was essentially a prison.
Susan McCarter , a professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and expert in juvenile incarceration, also testified. She said North Carolina shifted its policy away from incarceration to one of education and vocational training after an audit. The audit found the system lacked physical infrastructure and staffing at centers like the ones that housed Council.
During cross-examination McCarter said that policy shift happened while Council was at Dobbs.
As the day of testimony concluded, the defense called several men who are in prison. Wearing shackles and prison-orange jumpsuits, two men detailed their experience at Dobbs. They described a facility with constant fighting, sex between a guard and detainees, and little education.
“It ain’t a good place for a young man to supposedly be reformed,” said Kenneth Cox, now a convicted murderer.
Cox and Council both grew up in Wilson but didn’t know each other as children. At Dobbs, Cox said he got into a fight on his first day at the center, which was typical as fighting was prevalent. He also said the staff told some kids to fight the ones they didn’t like.
School was often just a place to “hang out,” Cox described, saying there was little structure.
“[I] didn’t learn anything to be productive,” he said.
This story was originally published September 30, 2019 at 6:00 PM.
