A grieving family faces renewed trauma during the holiday season as they confront an unexpected presidential action affecting their loved one's killer.
According to Fox News, the family of Donna Major, a South Carolina bank teller murdered in 2017, has expressed outrage after President Biden commuted the death sentence of her killer, Brandon Council, to life imprisonment without parole.
The decision has left Major's daughters, Heather Turner and Katie Jenkins, along with her husband, Danny Jenkins, struggling to process this development that arrives just days before Christmas. The family revealed they had attempted to secure an in-person meeting in Washington, D.C., to share their perspective but were limited to a brief virtual conference that they feel went unheeded.
The commutation announcement has reopened deep emotional wounds for Major's family. They emphasize the brutal nature of the crime, where Council entered CresCom Bank in Conway, South Carolina, and fatally shot both Major and her coworker Kathryn Skeen, who was 36 years old at the time. The surveillance footage captured the chilling moment when Council approached Major, briefly spoke to her, and then shot her multiple times before targeting Skeen.
Heather Turner expressed her profound disappointment with the decision-making process. She shared that the family learned about the possibility of commutation in May and immediately began writing letters to the pardon attorney requesting an opportunity to be heard in person.
Danny Jenkins, Major's husband, emphasized the cold-blooded nature of the crime. Speaking on "Fox & Friends," he stated:
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.
President Biden's decision affects not just the Council but 36 other federal death row inmates. In his statement explaining the commutations, Biden emphasized his opposition to federal executions while acknowledging the gravity of the criminals' actions.
The president's announcement excluded three notable death row inmates: Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, and Dylan Roof, who killed nine African Americans at a Charleston church in 2015.
Democratic Representative Ayanna Pressley publicly supported Biden's decision on CNN, characterizing it as demonstrating moral and compassionate leadership. However, Katie Jenkins strongly contested this characterization of compassion, pointing out the lack of consideration for victims' families in the decision-making process.
The controversial decision has ignited discussions about the balance between criminal justice reform and victims' rights. The family's frustration centers particularly on their limited involvement in the process, having been denied an in-person meeting and instead offered only a brief virtual conference.
The timing of the announcement, just before the Christmas holiday season, has added another layer of emotional complexity for the victims' families. The decision represents a significant shift in federal death penalty implementation, reflecting Biden's campaign promises and long-standing position on capital punishment.
Brandon Council's death sentence commutation is part of President Biden's broader initiative affecting 37 federal death row inmates, transforming their sentences to life imprisonment without parole.
The decision, announced days before Christmas 2024, has particularly impacted the families of Donna Major and Kathryn Skeen, who were killed during a 2017 bank robbery in Conway, South Carolina. While the administration frames this as a step toward ending federal executions, the victims' families view it as an oversight of their tragedy and right to participate in the justice process.
