Jury fails to reach a verdict in 1st day of death penalty deliberations for Brandon Council
After four hours of deliberations, a federal jury failed to reach a verdict on Wednesday if Brandon Council should be executed for shooting and killing two employees during a robbery at the Conway CresCom bank in 2017.
The jury started its deliberations around 2 p.m. Wednesday and broke for the evening around 6 p.m. The 12-person jury is set to resume its discussions on Thursday morning.
The panel is deciding whether Council should be given the death penalty or spend life in prison. He was convicted last week of charges related to the robbery and murders.
On Aug. 21, 2017, Council went into the 16th Avenue branch and approached Donna Major at the teller counter. He waited about 45 seconds before pulling out a gun and shooting Major twice.
Katie Skeen screamed in her nearby office, and Council ran to her. Council shot Skeen from point-blank range and killed her.
Council then ran back to Major, who was on the floor behind the counter, and shot her in the head. He then spent minutes robbing the bank.
Council stole Skeen’s car from the parking lot and fled to North Carolina, where he picked up a prostitute and stayed at a hotel. The next day, he used a person he just met to buy a car using money from the robbery.
On Aug. 23, police arrested Council outside of a Greenville, North Carolina, hotel. FBI investigators spoke to Council, who detailed his crime spree and his reasoning.
Wednesday morning was the last chance attorneys had to speak to the jury. Prosecutors detailed Council’s killings and again showed gruesome photos from the crime scene.
“Justice only means one thing when you evaluate all the evidence in total,” prosecutor Nathaniel Williams said. “That is the most significant penalty.”
Williams detailed how both women were the anchors for their families and innocent victims. Council had a robbery note in his pocket, but instead chose to use the gun, the prosecutor said.
“He did not have to kill anyone,” Williams said. “He killed everyone.”
Defense Attorney Duane Bryant detailed Council’s youth for the jury. Council grew up in Wilson, North Carolina in a neighborhood riddled with drugs. He was a good student, until his grandmother died and a spiral started that included Council spending time in the streets.
Council was sentenced to the Dobbs Training School, which numerous people have described as a prison for children where guards beat and sexually abused the boys.
“What they put those kids through was hell,” Bryant said.
The defense also told the jury that no matter what, Council was going to prison. Bryant added they had to determine if Council dies at the hand of the government or on God’s time.
“Does he died from lethal injection,” Bryant asked the jury, then referenced God and said, “or does he die when someone calls for him?”
This story was originally published October 2, 2019 at 7:06 PM.
