Jury selection to begin in S.C. church shooting

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The laborious process of jury selection is getting underway in the federal death penalty trial of Dylann Roof, the white man charged in the deaths of nine black parishioners gunned down during a Bible study at a Charleston church.

The 22-year-old Roof is charged with hate crimes, obstruction of religion and other counts in the June 17, 2015 shootings at Emanuel AME Church. Prosecutors allege he talked of starting a race war, posed with the Confederate battle flag before the killings and used the internet to scope out Emanuel and other historically black churches.

The first of hundreds of potential jurors report to the courthouse in Charleston’s historic district on Monday. Testimony in the case being heard by U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel is not anticipated until after Thanksgiving.

The Roof trial will be in two phases: a first to decide guilt or innocence and, if he is convicted, a second to determine if he should be sentenced to life in prison or death.

Roof’s attorneys have said repeatedly their client is willing to plead guilty if the death penalty is taken off the table. But U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said the government is seeking death because of “the nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm.”