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Charleston shooting: prosecutor to decide whether to seek death penalty Charleston shooting: prosecutor will seek death penalty against Dylann Roof
(35 minutes later)
A South Carolina prosecutor is expected to announce a decision on Thursday over whether to seek the death penalty in the June massacre of nine worshippers at a Charleston church, local media reported. The white man accused of killing nine black churchgoers during a Bible study will face the death penalty, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Dylann Roof, 21, is facing charges of murdering nine members of Emanuel AME church during Bible study. The documents said prosecutors would pursue the death penalty against Dylann Roof, 21, because more than two people were killed, and that others’ lives were put at risk.
Ninth Judicial Circuit solicitor Scarlett Wilson scheduled a news conference on Thursday regarding the case against Roof, without specifying what aspect she would address. Prosecutors also said they intended to present evidence on Roof’s mental state, adult and juvenile criminal record and other conduct, as well as his apparent lack of remorse for the killings.
The Post and Courier newspaper reported that the state planned to pursue the death penalty, citing unnamed sources familiar with the case. Reuters was not able to independently confirm that prosecutors had reached that decision. Roof faces state charges including nine murder counts in the June 17 slayings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church. He is expected in court again on those charges in October.
Roof, who is white, is accused of massacring the “Emanuel 9” on the night of 17 June after he had entered the church, joined their group and sat with them. The victims were black. He also faces federal charges including hate crimes and obstruction of the practice of religion, some of which are also eligible for the death penalty in that system. US attorney general Loretta Lynch has said federal charges were necessary to adequately address a motive that prosecutors believe was unquestionably rooted in racial hate. South Carolina has no state hate crimes law.
Among the dead was the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the church pastor who was also a state senator. Roof is white and appeared in photos waving Confederate flags and burning or desecrating US flags. He purportedly wrote online of fomenting racial violence, and federal authorities have said he used a personal manuscript in which he decried integration and used racial slurs to refer to blacks.
President Barack Obama eulogized Pinckney in Charleston at a funeral attended by more than 5,000 people.