Dylann Roof sentenced to die for church slayings

“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.

“His response is to double down”, said Richardson in response to Roof’s closing argument. Roof said he carried out the massacre not because he “had to”, as he said in the Federal Bureau of Investigation confession, but because he “felt” like he had to.

“The defendant had come not to learn, not to receive the Word, but he came with a hateful heart and a Glock 45”, Richardson said.

Jurors will begin deliberations Tuesday afternoon.

Update, 1/10/17, 4:52 p.m.: Jury sentences Dylann Roof to death for the Charleston church shooting.

However, if the jurors can not reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty, the default sentence will be life in prison without possibility of parole, Gergel said. “I am guilty. We all know I’m guilty”, Dylann said during a taped confession shortly after being taken into custody.

For the first time, Roof also seemed to obliquely raise the possibility that some emotional or mental condition may have led to his killing spree. He represented himself at trial and during his sentencing. “That’s what’s wrong”, Richardson said.

In his motion, Roof also requested that no comparisons be made between him and his victims in terms of good and evil – anything implying that the victims were “good” when compared to Roof.

The shooting, where Roof had waited for members of a Bible study group to close their eyes in prayer before opening fire, sent shockwaves across the United States.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel replied that “I am strongly disinclined” and instructed Roof to “think about it overnight”.

After highlighting what the loss of every victim meant to their families, Richardson went on to enumerate reasons why Roof’s case qualifies for the death penalty.

Roof had shown no remorse for killing nine black church members on 17 June 2015.

The 12 people Roof targeted opened the door for a stranger with a smile, he said.

We knew that Roof was an emotionless, remorseless sociopath already – but what he said in court documents revealed this week only confirms it further.

In a rambling, five-minute closing statement on Tuesday – his last chance to address jurors before they decided whether to sentence him to die – Roof spoke about hatred. “Everyone hates you. I would say that, in this case, the prosecution along with anyone else who hates me are the ones who have been misled”.

Relatives of Tywanza Sanders, the youngest victim in the massacre at Mother Emanuel AME, were the last to testify.

Dylann Roof, the self-described white supremacist who gunned down nine black worshippers in the 2015 Charleston church shooting, has been sentenced to death.

In a little less than three hours, the jury returned with their decision after asking a series of questions on certain mitigating factors.

The 22-year-old did not call any witnesses or present any evidence during the sentencing phase of the trial.