Supreme Court Declines to Hear Appeal of Killer of Nine at Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina
The United States Supreme Court declined to hear white supremacist Dylann Roof's appeal to overturn his conviction and death sentence for fatally shooting nine Black people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
According to Reuters, the 28-year-old shooter asked the Supreme Court in his appeal to consider how to handle situations in death penalty cases where defense lawyers and defendants can’t find consensus around defense strategy. Roof disagreed with his attorneys who wanted to present evidence depicting him as mentally ill.
Roof was found guilty of 33 federal charges in 2016 for the mass shooting at Charleston's historic Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 2017, the same jury sentenced him to death.
Roof fired his attorneys and represented himself during the sentencing phase of his trial. He made this choice after a judge told him that his attorneys would be able to introduce evidence depicting him as mentally ill, over his objections.
Roof's current lawyers argued in their appeal of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to uphold his conviction and death sentence that the shooter should not have been forced to represent himself in court in order to prevent the presentation of evidence he didn’t want.
Roof entered the church's fellowship hall on June 17, 2015, and was welcomed to a Bible study session. Roof took out his .45-caliber Glock pistol near the end of the meeting, as the members closed their eyes in prayer, and began shooting at the 12 people present. He shot each of the nine victims several times. After his arrest, Charleston police treated the mass killer to fast food.
