Killer of 2 bank tellers again faces death sentence after it was commuted by Biden
A North Carolina man convicted in the deaths of two Conway bank tellers appeared again in court nearly a year after his death row sentence was commuted by former President Joe Biden.
In a hearing on Tuesday, his case was sent back to trial as the state is once again seeking a death sentence.
Brandon Council was originally sentenced to death by a federal jury for shooting and killing two employees at the Conway CresCom bank in 2017. He was later one of the 37 death row inmates whose sentences were commuted by Biden just before Christmas in 2024. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
On Tuesday afternoon, he appeared in court to face the charges that were dropped by the state in 2019 when federal charges were filed against him. During the hearing, state prosecution asserted that they would once again seek the death penalty for Council, and the case was sent on to a future trial.
Council was present at the courthouse on Tuesday, but waived his right to appear in the courtroom. His attorneys pleaded not guilty on his behalf.
Horry County Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said that this move was surprising, but that Council would continue to be brought to each courtroom stage regardless of whether he decides to appear.
Richardson said he expects the process moving forward to take at least until the winter of 2026. In the meantime, Council will return to federal prison. He noted that he expects the trial to include a jury, which Council’s team requested during Tuesday’s hearing.
Council went to the 16th Avenue bank on Aug. 21, 2017, where he approached Donna Major at the teller counter. After waiting about 45 seconds, he pulled out a gun and shot major twice. Another employee, Katie Skeen, screamed from her nearby office, and Council ran to her before shooting her at point-blank range and killing her, The Sun News previously reported.
He then ran back to where Major lay on the floor behind the counter and shot her in the head, then proceeded to rob the bank, The Sun News previously reported.
Council’s indictment documents state that he stole Skeen’s 2013 Chrysler.
Council was the first person sentenced to death since federal officials at the time announced they would resume executions, and he was on death row in Indiana.
Richardson said this is also the first time in his experience that a federal case has been retried in his court. He emphasized that the state trial would be completely different than and separate from the federal trial, and that the indictments Council will be tried on are not the ones that originally went to trial.
“You are a state citizen and you are a federal citizen,” Richardson said, explaining that this is why the case being retried does not qualify as double jeopardy.
Richardson does not expect any kind of plea deal to be entertained. He said that deciding to request the death penalty was a matter of deeply scrutinizing the case, but could not share what specific aspects of the case led the state to seek out the death penalty.
“Every murder is not death penalty eligible. This one was death penalty eligible and we try to keep it for the worst of the worst,” Richardson said.
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 1:46 PM.
