A South Carolina man convicted in the brutal double murder of two bank employees in 2017 is asking for a “compassionate release” days after President Biden spared his life and commuted his death sentence.
Brandon Council, 28, was convicted in September 2019 in the 2017 double murder of Conway bank employees Katie Skeen, 36, and Donna Major, 59. Council was then sentenced to death by a federal court one month later.
Council was one of 37 federal inmates on death row who had their sentences commuted to life in prison by Biden.
On Friday, Council filed a motion in the U.S. District Court in Florence arguing that he deserved a “compassionate release” because he had been subjected to “severe, unnecessary, and unjustifiable psychological harm” that “can only be accurately construed and assimilated as an act of torture,” since he was permanently housed in solitary confinement since Nov. 4, 2019, according to records obtained by WBTW.
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Brandon Council is one of 37 federal death row inmates who escaped execution following President Biden’s decision to commute their sentences. (DeathPenaltyInfo.org)
A compassionate release is described by the American Bar Organization as the process by which those incarcerated may seek early release, whether to community supervision or to their communities, due to extraordinary or compelling circumstances.
Several people have openly disagreed with Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences, including Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., who said the decision was “shameful.”
“Biden’s move to pardon 37 federal death row inmates – including 3 men from South Carolina who committed unspeakable acts – continues to shock Americans nationwide. This decision is shameful. It is high time to return America to a country of law and order,” Fry wrote in a post on X.
Fry added in another post following the announcement that Biden’s decision “disgraces victims’ memories nationwide.”
“Joe Biden’s clemency for death row inmates disgraces victims’ memories nationwide, like Donna Major of Conway and Katie Skeen of Green Sea. This shows shocking disregard for innocent families’ pain, right at Christmas. January 20 cannot come soon enough,” Fry wrote in his post on X.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., echoed Fry and called Biden’s actions “senseless.”
“President Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates is not just senseless—it’s an outrageous example of this administration’s upside down and backwards ideology,” Meuser wrote in a post on his X account.
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During an interview with “Fox & Friends,” Major’s family said they were livid after Biden commuted her killer’s death sentence just days before Christmas.
“I was angry. I’m still angry. I am upset that this is even happening, that one man can make this decision without even talking to the victims, without any regard for what we’ve been through, what we’re going through, and completely hurt, frustrated and angry,” Major’s daughter Heather Turner said during the Christmas Eve interview.
Donna Major, 59, and Kathryn (Katie) Skeen, 36, were killed in cold blood by Brandon Council while he robbed a South Carolina bank in 2017. (Derek Shoemake)
“She was shown no mercy at all. This man walked into the bank, never said two words to her. Shot her three times in total. He went and shot her coworker, Katie Skeen as well, who was totally defenseless and unaware of anything happening,” Major’s husband, Danny Jenkins, added during the show.
“I can’t even believe that this is actually happening…”
Council spent a week at a motel across from the CresCom Bank in Conway, South Carolina, where he watched the movie “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” before he went in with a gun and killed both Skeen and Major.
Council already had a prior felony conviction at the time and told an FBI agent that he went into the bank knowing he would kill someone during the robbery.
He had been on parole for a month at the time of the murders, which came during his second bank robbery since leaving prison.
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President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the Biden-Harris administration’s moratorium on federal executions when he returns to office.
Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Christmas Day to call out Biden for his commutation decision.
“They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing,” Trump’s post read.
“Also, to the 37 most violent criminals who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden. I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky ‘souls’ but instead, will say, GO TO HELL!” Trump continued.
The U.S. government has executed 50 inmates since 1927, according to the Bureau of Prisons, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Cold War spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. That’s far fewer than the individual states, which have executed more than 1,500 condemned inmates in the last 50 years.
The government carried out death sentences for 13 federal prisoners during Trump’s first term, the most under any president in a century.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Taylor Penley and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com
https://www.foxnews.com/us/convicted-south-carolina-bank-killer-asks-compassionate-release-days-after-biden-commuted-death-sentence
