FLORENCE, S.C. (WMBF) – A man spared from death row after President Joe Biden commuted his federal death sentence Monday is now asking the court for compassionate release.
Brandon Raad The federal death penalty was one of 37 that President Joe Biden commuted early Monday. He will now serve a life sentence in federal prison without the possibility of parole.
Council was sentenced to death by a jury for the deaths of Donna Major and Katie Skeen during a 2017 robbery of CresCom Bank.
Donna Major, left: Katie Skeen, right
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On Friday, however, the Council filed a request in federal court for compassionate release, meaning he would be released from prison early due to ‘extraordinary or compelling circumstances’.
In the submissions, the Council provided documents and position papers explaining why Terre Haute, where he was housed, is one of the worst prisons in the world in 2022.
During his captivity in Terre Haute, Council was held in solitary confinement, from which he repeatedly requested his removal.
“My classification for administrative detention places me in permanent solitary confinement, which is psychologically harmful and torture in violation of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel (inhuman) or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is a ratified treaty of the United States,” the Council said. wrote in his request for administrative reinstatement in 2023.
This request was rejected.
The Council began his solitary confinement in 2019 and every written request for removal was denied.
The latest motion for compassionate release was filed Friday.
WMBF News will bring you updates on this story as they become available.
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