Man gets death penalty for killing 2 in SC bank robbery

FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — A federal jury has sentenced a man to death for killing two employees during a 2017 bank robbery in South Carolina.

The jury deliberated about six hours over two days before deciding Thursday on the death penalty instead of life in prison for Brandon Council.

The same jurors found 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.

Prosecutors said Council deserved to die because he chose to kill everyone in the bank while seeking easy money. Defense lawyers said Council was remorseful, cooperated with investigators and would die behind bars whether the government killed him or not.

Authorities say the Wilson, North Carolina, man took $15,000 in the robbery.