#DylannRoof Federal Death Penalty Trial: Jury qualifications

Posted on November 29, 2016 by SouthernGirl2

dylann-roof-in-courtAccused Emanuel AME Church shooter Dylann Roof got to work helping to pick the jury that will decide whether he lives or dies as he embarked on a risky legal strategy Monday, casting aside his top-flight defense team in favor of representing himself in his federal hate crimes trial.

The presiding judge expressed misgivings but ultimately granted Roof’s request to serve as his own attorney with the death penalty hanging in the balance. The ruling sets the stage for the self-avowed white supremacist to question the shooting survivors and family members of the nine victims if they are called to testify.

Roof made the last-minute request as jury selection was set to begin Monday following a three-week delay to determine whether he was mentally competent to stand trial. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled the case could proceed but cautioned Roof against representing himself, noting his defense team’s considerable legal expertise. Gergel concluded, however, that Roof has the capacity and a constitutional right to take over his defense.

“I continue to believe it is strategically unwise, but it is a decision you have the right to make,” Gergel said.

Roof, garbed in a striped grey-and-white jail uniform, stood in the front of the courtroom and answered the judge’s questions with “yes, sir” in a quiet, raspy voice. After Gergel’s ruling, Roof smiled slightly as he returned to the defense table but showed no other obvious emotion.

Roof then sat in the front-and-center seat as his lead lawyer, capital defense attorney David Bruck scooted over. Roof told the judge that he wanted the attorneys he’d just spurned to sit at the table with him. They still can advise Roof.

However, if Roof thinks he can intimidate the two women who survived the bloodshed by grilling them on the witness stand, their attorney thinks it will backfire.

“They have a lot to say to him, and this may provide them with an unanticipated opportunity. The strength of their words will undoubtedly be more powerful than his rants of hate,” said attorney Andy Savage, who represents survivors Polly Sheppard and Felicia Sanders. Sanders’ son, Tywanza, died in the attack. Both women sat stoically in the front row of the courtroom on Monday.

The Rev. Sharon Risher, an AME minister whose mother died in the shooting, said she was outraged that Roof would be allowed to make a spectacle of the trial and suspected the strategy was aimed at derailing efforts to bring him to justice.

“Something is going on underneath our noses,” Risher said after the hearing. “There has to be some kind of legal tactic with this. I’m just sick.”

Speculation had been swirling for weeks in legal circles as to whether the closed-door proceedings to determine Roof’s competency were somehow related to a quest to mount his own defense. It’s a strategy various high-profile killers have tried in the past, and one that rarely ends up working in their favor.

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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147 Responses to #DylannRoof Federal Death Penalty Trial: Jury qualifications

  4. SouthernGirl2 says:
    November 29, 2016 at 2:41 pm

    Dylann Roof was ruthless and bold when he entered a church and slaughtered 9 parishioners, even though they were very nice to him.

    https://twitter.com/ChadKMills/status/803688550474518528

    Reply
  32. SouthernGirl2 says:
    November 29, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    Lets keep watch on this number. #175 to see if she gets picked.

    https://twitter.com/KRBolster/status/803676845224775682

    Reply
  45. Ametia says:
    November 29, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    This trial is going to be SHEER TORTURE for the families of the murdered victims.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      November 29, 2016 at 11:33 am

      Dylan Roof can go straight to HELL. Murdering 9 church-goers in cold blood.

      America has truly gone to HELL in a hand basket, if a jury lets this fucker go free.

      Reply
  80. SouthernGirl2 says:
    November 29, 2016 at 10:26 am

    I read a tweet from someone who said…..”but Dylann Roof didn’t do anything wrong”. It’s unbelievable.

    Reply
  117. Liza says:
    November 29, 2016 at 9:06 am

    Dylann Roof defending himself more or less insures that his murder trial will be a freak show, and he is, of course, the freak. I believe it’s really about his last tango in Paris because from here he goes to Federal prison to wait for execution or to die a slow death over an indeterminate number of years. Either way, his life is over and he knows it. He also knows by now that the fantasies he had about himself and what he would accomplish by murdering innocent black people in a church folks are now just evidence that will used against him. Surely he knows by now that most people just want him dead or locked up and there is nothing left for him except to get in line behind all of the other mass murderers. All he’s got left is this trial.

    Reply

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