No mercy for racist killings in US church
US GUNMAN Dylann Roof, who hoped to spark a race war by killing nine black churchgoers, has been sentenced to death,
He threw away any chance of clemency by refusing to show any remorse and insisting: “I still feel like I had to do it.”
Putting his closing argument to the jury, Roof read from a yellow sheet of paper for about five minutes.
Every juror looked directly at Roof as he spoke, and a few nodded as he reminded them that they said during selection they could fairly weigh the factors of his case. Only one of them, he noted, had to disagree to spare his life.
“I have the right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I’m not sure what good it would do anyway,” he said.
Roof paused several times, but jurors never took their eyes off him.
After one of the pauses, he abruptly said: “That’s all,” quickly gathered his sheet of paper and walked back to the defence table.
Jurors began their deliberations yesterday afternoon. Their decision had to be unanimous and if the panel had been unable to agree on whether he should be executed, he would automatically have received a life sentence.
Earlier, Assistant US Attorney Jay Richardson had told them the attacker specifically picked Emanuel AME Church, the South’s oldest black church, to carry out the cold, calculated slaughter.
In his FBI confession, Roof said he hoped the massacre would bring back segregation or start a race war.
Roof acted as his own lawyer in the sentencing hearing and did not question any witnesses or put up any evidence.