22yo white supremacist sentenced to death for mass murder, US.
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 7:39 am
Dylann Roof sentenced to death for the murders of nine black church members
Dylann Roof was convicted last month of 33 federal charges, including murder and hate crimes. They jury returned after deliberating over his sentence for about three hours on Tuesday to announce their decision that he should be executed.
He is the first person to face execution for a federal hate crime conviction. Assistant US attorney Jay Richardson said the 12 people Roof targeted were God-fearing church members who opened the door for a white stranger with a smile. Three people survived.
“They welcomed a 13th person that night … with a kind word, a Bible, a handout and a chair,” Richardson said during his closing argument. “He had come with a hateful heart and a Glock .45.”
Richardson reminded jurors about each one of the victims and the bloody crime scene that Roof left behind in the church’s lower level. Roof sat with the Bible study group for about 45 minutes, and during the final prayer – when everyone’s eyes were closed – he started firing. He stood over some of the fallen victims, shooting them again as they lay on the floor, the prosecutor said.
Roof did not explain his actions to jurors, but in his FBI confession he said he hoped to bring back segregation or start a race war.
In his final argument to jurors, Roof, a 22-year-old white man, said he felt he had to carry out the slayings on 17 June 2015.
“I still feel like I had to do it,” Roof said. Holding on to his racist beliefs, he said: “Anyone who hates anything in their mind has a good reason for it.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... h-shooting
Insight into what can become of a confused undeveloped mind fed on racist internet sites: Roof's white supremacist manifesto.
http://www.thewrap.com/racist-manifesto ... ylan-roof/
Dylann Roof was convicted last month of 33 federal charges, including murder and hate crimes. They jury returned after deliberating over his sentence for about three hours on Tuesday to announce their decision that he should be executed.
He is the first person to face execution for a federal hate crime conviction. Assistant US attorney Jay Richardson said the 12 people Roof targeted were God-fearing church members who opened the door for a white stranger with a smile. Three people survived.
“They welcomed a 13th person that night … with a kind word, a Bible, a handout and a chair,” Richardson said during his closing argument. “He had come with a hateful heart and a Glock .45.”
Richardson reminded jurors about each one of the victims and the bloody crime scene that Roof left behind in the church’s lower level. Roof sat with the Bible study group for about 45 minutes, and during the final prayer – when everyone’s eyes were closed – he started firing. He stood over some of the fallen victims, shooting them again as they lay on the floor, the prosecutor said.
Roof did not explain his actions to jurors, but in his FBI confession he said he hoped to bring back segregation or start a race war.
In his final argument to jurors, Roof, a 22-year-old white man, said he felt he had to carry out the slayings on 17 June 2015.
“I still feel like I had to do it,” Roof said. Holding on to his racist beliefs, he said: “Anyone who hates anything in their mind has a good reason for it.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... h-shooting
Insight into what can become of a confused undeveloped mind fed on racist internet sites: Roof's white supremacist manifesto.
http://www.thewrap.com/racist-manifesto ... ylan-roof/