#DylannRoof Death Penalty Trial | Day 4

Posted on December 12, 2016 by SouthernGirl2

dylann-roof-court-hearingCHARLESTON, SC — The revelations in a federal courtroom last week were gruesome – difficult to hear and to watch.

But an underlying tension in the horrific hate crimes trial of Dylann Roof is the battle between two key players who started their careers in Columbia: defense attorney David Bruck and trial judge Richard Gergel. At stake? Nothing less than the life of Roof.

Bruck and Gergel are clashing over Bruck’s repeated motions and efforts to allow the jury to hear evidence about Roof’s mental state. Roof is charged with the June 2015 execution-style killings of nine African-Americans at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

In the past week, Gergel has rebuffed Bruck’s efforts to delay the trial and grant a mistrial. Although the judge has sometimes granted Bruck’s motions on various issues, he sometimes scolds Bruck as if addressing a child.

And, as frequently as Bruck tries to get Roof’s mental condition before the jury, Gergel cites numerous legal rules and court decisions that say Bruck can’t put that kind of evidence before the jury during the guilt-or-innocence phase of the ongoing death penalty trial.

If Roof had been found insane earlier, he wouldn’t be standing trial. But mental competency tests have so far found Roof is legally competent – meaning he is able to understand the legal proceedings and assist lawyers in his defense – and so has to stand trial.

So Bruck is pushing to get to the jurors as early as he can anything that would make Roof seem more human – and perhaps less responsible for his actions.

Bruck has even made the sparring personal. On Thursday, the defense attorney suggested Gergel might not be living up to a noble legal standard set by Gergel’s legal hero, the late U.S. Judge Waties Waring of Charleston.

“This courthouse is named for Judge Waring largely due to your efforts,” Bruck told Gergel last week with the jury out of the room, noting that Gergel had led an effort to put a statue of Waring in the Charleston federal courthouse plaza.

“We revere Judge Waring,” Bruck said, his voice rising across a packed courtroom, “Not because he did right – but because he did right when it was hard.” Bruck, who usually speaks in a patient, almost gentle, voice, emphasized the word “hard,” implying Gergel was taking the easy way out over a dispute about a prosecution witness’ statement that Roof should be punished “in the pit of hell.”

Gergel ignored Bruck’s jibe about Waring, a legendary Charleston judge who in 1951 wrote a courageous legal opinion that eventually helped lead to the country’s end of segregated public schools.

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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137 Responses to #DylannRoof Death Penalty Trial | Day 4

  17. SouthernGirl2 says:
    December 12, 2016 at 2:34 pm

    Well here it is, folks! Higher testosterone levels

    https://twitter.com/KRBolster/status/808406016123662336

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 12, 2016 at 7:22 pm

      Really appreciate your incredible effort to dedicatedly document and keep us all apprised of this case, SG…

      I don’t know how you keep your sanity following so closely…

      Consciously removing myself from much of the court proceedings – and only observing from the sidelines, means I get to remain ever so marginally calm, and that my humanity isn’t entirely depleted…

      Reply
  81. Ametia says:
    December 12, 2016 at 10:54 am

    So Roof, the MURDERING MURDERER CHANGED HIS CLOTHES, before they took him for a Burger & FRIES.

    THESE MURDERS WERE PREMEDITATED

    Reply
  123. Ametia says:
    December 12, 2016 at 9:28 am

    this FUCKER needs to FRY.

    PERIOD.THE END.

    Reply

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