Defense focuses on penalty, not guilt in church shooting

Felicia Sanders, one of just three people to survive the bloody massacre that left nine others dead during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in SC previous year, said accused shooter Dylann Roof, 22, deserves to be in the “pit of Hell”.

O the evening of June 17, 2015, Roof sat with parishioners for a almost hour-long bible study session. One witness recalled how the now-22-year-old white supremacist entered the Bible study session that night and waited nearly 45 minutes for the 12 participants to stand and close their eyes in prayer before opening fire. There are no easy answers, but justice is what the families of the victims, the state, and people of Charleston seek.

The officer said he then ordered Roof to place his hands on the steering wheel, then told him to turn the auto off and step out.

Authorities previously said Roof had confessed to the killings and told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he hoped to provoke a race war.

Prosecutors said that Roof fired “over and over again”, as he shot Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the church’s pastor.

The attorney for the 22-year-old all but conceded during opening statements that Roof committed the slayings but suggested that he should be spared the death penalty.

Death penalty cases are usually divided into two parts: the guilt phase – to establish guilt – and the sentencing phase, which concerns whether the defendant should be put to death or sentenced to life in prison.

Gergel did, however, tell the jury that the sentencing phase will be their decision, and can’t be influenced by any comments made during the trial.

The government released video Thursday night to the media showing what they say shows Roof leaving the church following the shooting.

“You will see a crime that is driven by fear”, Bruck said.

In a single-question cross-examination, Sanders was asked what else Roof said. He may not call any witnesses of his own.

Proceedings in the Charleston courtroom began with opening statements once the jury was impaneled.

A tearful Sanders then recalled watching her son die.

“I need to check my pastor!'” Sanders said. Several of the victims were huddled near the church room tables that investigators believe they attempted to use as shields.

She said Roof responded with, “You’re raping our women and you’re taking over the world”.

She texted him back, “yes”.

The government said it should take three hours to introduce the confession and then play the two-hour video.

During Burnet’s testimony, dash cam footage of the officers performing the traffic stop and arresting Roof was shown to jurors. Most were clustered around circular tables where they had been holding a Bible study. When he confessed in June 2015 to police, he said that everyone was so nice to him that he found it hard to go through with the heinous crime. Then she saw Roof with a weapon, and screamed, “he has a gun”. “So many shots”, she said as she described the chaos. “There was so many shots”.

Her granddaughter, who was with her, said, “Granny I’m so scared”.

“I muzzled her face to my body so tight, that I thought I suffocated her”, Sanders said.

Roof killed all but three churchgoers in the twisted shooting.. He said he wanted them to instead consider why. You’re probably wondering, so what we are doing here?

The 12 jurors who will hear the death penalty trial of Dylann Roof have been picked and will decide whether the white man killed nine black people in racially motivated attack at a Charleston church. The medical examiner collected 54 bullets or fragments from the nine victims, she said.

She also described what she felt during her first walkthrough after arriving the night of the attack at Emanuel AME on June 17, 2015.

“He just sits there the whole time. Evil as can be”.

Minutes later, as her son lay dying, he looked up at her.