Jurors convict Dylann Roof in church slayings

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FILE - In this June18, 2016 file photo, Dylann Storm Roof is escorted from the Sheby Police Department in Shelby, N.C. The trial for Roof, a white man accused of killing nine black people at the church, started Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, at the federal courthouse in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)
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Dylann Roof (Police booking photo)

A federal jury has convicted Dylann Roof in the racially motivated slayings of nine black church members in South Carolina.

The jury reached its verdict after less than two hours of deliberations. They convicted the 22-year-old white man of hate crimes and other charges.

They will reconvene next month to decide whether he should get the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison.

Roof just stared ahead as the verdict was read, much as he has throughout the trial.

 

 


 

 

Roof will almost certainly spend the rest of his days in prison after being convicted of hate crimes, but whether they’ll end in lethal injection has yet to be determined.

The same jury that convicted Roof on Thursday will return Jan. 3 to decide whether to impose a death sentence or life in prison for the June 2015 massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

When that testimony starts, Roof will be his own attorney. Immediately after he was convicted of 33 counts, he again fired his defense lawyers.

Those attorneys have suggested in court papers that Roof doesn’t want them introducing embarrassing evidence that could spare his life.

The jury must decide if Roof will face life in prison or the death penalty.

 

(Source: AP)

 

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