Roof: Testimony by families ‘not fair’
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Dylann Roof wrote in a court filing unsealed Thursday that it was “not fair” for prosecutors to present such extensive testimony about the effect of his church shooting here on victims’ family members, arguing that, because he was not presenting any evidence, it would virtually assure a death sentence.
“If I don’t present any mitigation evidence, the victim-impact evidence will take over the whole sentencing trial and guarantee that I get the death penalty,” Roof wrote.
The filing was unsealed on the second day of the penalty phase of Roof ’s trial, as prosecutors elicited emotional stories from the loved ones of those slain at Charleston’s historical Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Roof mostly sat silent, staring straight ahead and declining to question any witnesses himself.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ultimately did not impose any limits on testimony, though he warned prosecutors he was worried about the issue.
“I’m concerned both about the number of witnesses and the length of their testimony and the length collectively of their testimony, and I want you to revisit your strategy here, because at some point I’m going to cut you off if it gets too long,” he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson insisted the government was acting appropriately. “It is also, I think, important that the government and these individuals are allowed to tell the stories of their loved ones,” he said.
Roof, 22, was convicted last month of federal hate crimes for killing nine peo- ple in a June 2015 rampage at the Mother Emanuel church, and jurors have only t wo options for his sentence: life in prison or death. He has said the massacre was racially motivated, and he wrote six weeks after the crime in a jailhouse journal that he did not regret it.
To p e r s u a d e j u r o r s t o impose the ultimate punishment, prosecutors must show the aggravating factors in the case — Roof ’s racial motivation, his lack of remorse and the effect his crime had on the victims and their families — out weigh the mitigating evidence. They have questioned victims’ loved ones at length.
Roof is representing himself at the trial, having fired his attorneys before the penalty phase began. He said in an opening statement he did so because he did not want them to offer evidence that he had psychological problems, and he insisted he had none. “The point is that I’m not going to lie to you, either by myself or through anyone else,” Roof said.
Roof r a i s e d a f e w or a l objections to pieces of evidence in court.
Prosecutors have indicated that they could call as many as 38 witnesses, though Richardson said Thursday the final figure will probably be less. Although Roof has not presented any evidence, Gergel told jurors they could consider his confession in the case, his offer to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence and the possibility that he could change as factors in favor of a life sentence.