The death penalty is still in decline – despite Trump’s best efforts
Donna Major was shot dead in 2017 by bank robber Brandon Council, who was convicted and sentenced to death. But Joe Biden – “guided,” as he said he was, “by my conscience” – commuted Council’s sentence along with 36 other men on federal death row in the twilight of his presidency. Was this pardon for Council an insult to Donna and her grieving relatives? Donald Trump thinks so. When he took office, he quickly rescinded Biden’s moratorium on federal executions and issued an executive order instructing states to seek new charges against the 37 killers Biden pardoned. South Carolina indicted Council for Donna’s murder again last year and so he could eventually be back on death row.
