Dylann Roof’s Lawyers Think the Death Penalty Is Unconstitutional

“This court should declare the FDPA (Federal Death Penalty Act) unconstitutional and order that this case proceed as a non-capital case”, attorneys stated in the motion. “T$3 his motion.is being filed exclusively as a result of the government’s decision to seek the defendant’s execution rather than accepting his proffered pleas of guilty”, they wrote. As the lawyers note, “conscientious objectors to the death penalty are systematically excluded” from such juries. The motions are typical for death penalty cases in which attorneys are tasked with exhausting all avenues in attempting to spare clients from the ultimate punishment.

The lawyers say in the motion that the law, enacted 40 years ago to offer direction in death penalty cases, does not give an adequate definition of a crime deserving the death penalty and arbitrarily leaves the decision to juries and courts. For now, his federal defense team challenges the constitutionality of the death penalty.

Roof’s attorneys filed the motion stating that they would drop the challenge if prosecutors dropped their pursuit of the death sentence in his case.

In a rather ironic twist, accused mass murderer Dylann Roof, who was arrested after allegedly shooting nine Bible study participants in a church previous year, has challenged the court’s decision to punish him with the death penalty.

“The [Federal Death Penalty Act] may have been designed with as much care as possible under the circumstances, the capital sentencing process that the statute provides is constitutionally inadequate in practice”.

If the court rules in favor of the submission, Roof will plead guilty to all charges against him in federal court in return for a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He is accused of killing nine black worshippers at a Bible study in the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Pointing to a potential bias in jury selection, Roof’s attorneys claim that the selection process for capital cases violates a defendant’s right to a fair and impartial jury due to what is referred to as the “death qualification”.

Photos of Dylann Storm Roof from a white supremascist website emerged after he was collared for the Charleston massacre. Roof’s federal trial is set for November. Six states have abolished the death penalty since 2007, most recently Nebraska in 2015.