Man gets death penalty for killing 2 in SC bank robbery during solar eclipse

FLORENCE, S.C. — A man who killed two South Carolina bank employees while taking $15,000 during a robbery was sentenced to die Thursday by a federal jury.

The same jurors found Brandon Council guilty last month of armed bank robbery resulting in death, among other charges for killing the manager and a teller at CresCom Bank in Conway in August 2017.

[ALSO READ: Jury to decide life or death for robber who killed 2 inside South Carolina bank]

The jury’s other option was life in prison without parole. They deliberated less than six hours over two days, news outlets reported.

Prosecutors pushed for the death penalty, saying Council deserved to die because he chose to murder everyone in the bank while seeking easy money, pulling a gun out instead of the robbery note he had in his pocket.

“He did not have to kill anyone,” prosecutor Nathan Williams said. “He killed everyone.”

Council’s lawyers detailed his troubled childhood, raised by his grandmother who died just as he became a teenager. They also emphasized Council’s remorse for his crime and how he cooperated with investigators after his arrest at a motel near his Wilson, North Carolina, home several days after the fatal robbery.

They reminded the jury Council would never leave prison whether he was executed or served out his life sentence.

“Does he die from lethal injection?” defense lawyer Duane Bryant said. “Or does he die when someone calls for him?”

The jurors were presented evidence over two weeks, including surveillance video of Council walking into the bank on Aug. 21, 2017 - the same day a full solar eclipse was seen in other parts of South Carolina and elsewhere.

Council stood by teller Donna Major for nearly a minute before pulling out a gun and shooting her first in the arm and then in the chest as the stunned teller held papers in front of her face trying to protect herself.

Manager Katie Skeen ran into her office and hid under her desk. Council shot her in the forehead, according to the video and testimony.

Council took $15,000 from the bank, including special bills that trigger a call to police if removed, authorities said. He then went back into Skeen's office and took the keys to her SUV to escape.

Council was arrested several days later at a Greenville, North Carolina, motel. He had bought a used Mercedes with the robbery money, according to his confession.

Council asked investigators if the women were still alive and cried when he found out they were dead.

“I’m a doofus. I’m an idiot,” Council told police. “I don’t deserve to live.”

Associated Press