Former federal prosecutor in death row case speaks on Biden commuting murderers sentence
A former federal prosecutor in the case that sent a man to death row says it is difficult to see a “remorseless murderer” be relieved of his sentence following President Biden’s decision on Monday to commute nearly all federal inmates facing execution.Brandon Council, of North Carolina, was sentenced to death by a federal jury on Oct.3, 2019, after he was found guilty of killing two women who worked at a South Carolina bank during a robbery in 2017. Council was one of the 37 convicted murderers who will now spend life in prison without parole after Biden reclassified their death sentences.Derek Shoemake, former assistant U.S.
attorney for the District of South Carolina and one of the federal prosecutors in the case against Council, told Fox News Digital it was “one of the greatest professional honors” of his life to pursue justice for victims Donna Major, 59, and Kathryn Skeen, 36, and his heart aches for their families following Biden’s decision.“Donna and Katie were amazing women, wonderful mothers, and beacons of light in their community.Today my thoughts and prayers are with their families, and my heart aches for them as they process this news,” Shoemake said in a statement.He also said his thoughts and prayers are with the team who “worked for more than a year” getting justice for Major and Skeen, “ensuring a remorseless murderer received a sentence that spoke to the horrific nature of his senseless crimes.”Council entered CresCom Bank in Conway, South Carolina, on Aug.
21, 2017, with the intention of robbing the business and killing its employees, according to a 2017 news release from the U.S.Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina (USAO-SC).After making it inside, Council shot Major, who was the bank teller, multiple times with a revolver, the USAO-SC said at the time.
He then ran into Skeen’s office, where she worked as the bank’s manager, and shot her multiple times while she hid under her desk. Before f...