Hillary's Latest Stance On Guns.But What If Dylann Roof Set Off A Pressure Cooker In The Church ?

[Rexx Taylor]

And here we go again with Hillary, already bitchin' over race and gun control, although we all know gun control laws wouldn't of made any difference in regards to the events of Wednesday June 17. If Dylann wanted to take out a few black people, nothing would of stopped him. And if he decided to make a bomb out of a pressure cooker, would Hillary be proposing new, and more complex laws in regards to purchasing a pressure cooker at Wal-Mart or Sears? Would those under the age of 27 be required to acquire a license? Take a course in "Pressure Cooker Handling 2.0?

 

[Rexx Taylor]

well I already have a license to make AK-47's out of pop-tarts. i am ready for the next civil war.

 

[waltky]

Dylann Roof's jury selection resumes...

Jury selection resumes in Charleston church shooting trial
Nov 6,`16 ) -- Jury selection resumes Monday in the case of Dylann Roof, the white man on trial for his life in the Charleston Federal Courthouse for gunning down nine black parishioners during a Bible study at a Charleston church last year. The 22-year-old Roof is charged with hate crimes, obstruction of religion and other counts in the June 17, 2015, shootings at Emanuel AME Church. It's the first of two death penalty trials Roof faces stemming from the shootings. A look at what the coming weeks will bring:

LENGTHY JURY SELECTION

Three thousand potential jurors received summonses to report to the federal courthouse back in September. During preliminary screening, that number was whittled down to a pool of 748. After reviewing those questionnaires, attorneys have reduced the pool to 516. Beginning Monday, those remaining in the pool will report back to the courthouse to be questioned about the case individually by the judge. Once the process produces 70 qualified jurors, they will be presented to attorneys who can then use strikes to dismiss those they don't want. Twelve jurors and six alternates will be seated. The process could still take several weeks, and court officials say opening statements may not be heard until after Thanksgiving.

A LENGTHY TRIAL

The trial is expected to run into January with breaks over Thanksgiving and Christmas. The trial will be in two phases: the first to decide Roof's guilt or innocence and, if he is convicted, a second to determine if he should be sentenced to life in prison or death. There is expected to be a break of several days between the innocence and guilt phase and the sentencing phase. The trial last year of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev took about two months for jury selection, with weather and other delays. The guilt and sentencing phases took almost nine weeks.

FOCUS ON SENTENCING

The focus of the trial is expected to be on the sentencing phase. Defense attorneys have said numerous times during earlier hearings that Roof is willing to plead guilty if the death penalty were taken off the table. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said the government is seeking death because of "the nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm." Government prosecutors allege Roof talked of starting a race war and posed with the Confederate battle flag before the killings.

FAMILY PRAYING FOR PEACE

With jury selection resuming, Roof's family released a statement saying, "We are still in anguish and shock that a member of our family could have committed such a terrible, senseless crime. We are still struggling to understand why Dylann caused so much grief and pain." The statement also said, "We pray that the Emanuel AME families and the Charleston community will find peace."

ANOTHER TRIAL NEXT YEAR

Roof faces a second death penalty trial early next year in state court, where he faces nine counts of murder. A state judge is ordering 600 prospective jurors to report to the Charleston County Courthouse Jan. 17 for initial screening. His order says the trial will begin on or after Jan. 30. It's not clear when the federal case will wrap up.

CHARLESTON IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The jury selection in the Roof case resumes as the trial of Michael Slager is underway in the county courthouse across the street. Slager, who is white and a former North Charleston police officer, faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murder in the shooting death of Walter Scott, a black man who was shot in the back as he fled from a traffic stop. Community leaders have urged residents to show unity and refrain from violence as the cases are being heard.

News from The Associated Press

 

[waltky]

... has a fool for an attorney...

Dylann Roof to represent himself in court in church shooting trial
Tuesday 29th November, 2016 - Dylann Roof, an avowed white supremacist accused of murdering nine black parishioners at a historic Charleston, South Carolina church last year, began acting as his own lawyer at his federal death penalty proceedings on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel granted Roof’s request to represent himself at trial but told the defendant it was unwise to cast aside his seasoned attorneys. Roof, 22, did not say why he wanted to take the lead in his case. The move could give him the opportunity to question the survivors of the shooting if they are called as witnesses. Roof also faces 33 counts of hate crimes, obstruction of religion and firearms charges stemming from the shooting, which occurred during a Bible study session at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015.

Prosecutors, who say he planned the attack for months, are seeking the death penalty. Gergel ruled on Friday that Roof was mentally competent to stand trial, following concerns raised by defense attorneys about their client’s ability to understand the nature of the proceedings against him and to assist in his own defense. That decision paved the way for jury selection to resume on Monday after a temporary delay this month for a competency evaluation and hearing. Then, in another twist, Gergel said he received a motion from Roof late Sunday seeking to represent himself.

In a Charleston courtroom, the judge asked Roof a series of questions to determine whether he understood the charges, the punishment he faced and the trial duties he was undertaking. Roof, dressed in a striped gray and white prison jumpsuit, answered “Yes” or “Yes, sir.” “I find that his decision is knowing, intelligent and voluntary,” the judge said. Gergel instructed Roof’s legal team to remain on standby, including lead defense lawyer David Bruck, who is considered an expert in death penalty cases.

Once jury questioning got under way, Roof mostly responded “no” each time the judge asked if he had any follow-up questions or objections to potential jurors. Gergel dismissed several people who expressed conflicted feelings about capital punishment or said a death sentence should always be the penalty for murder. One woman said she could be fair and impartial but admitted being sickened by the crime, which shook the country and stoked a debate over U.S. race relations. Gergel struck the woman from serving as a juror. Twelve jurors and six alternates will be chosen to hear testimony.

Dylann Roof to represent himself in court in church shooting trial

 

[NYcarbineer]

He didn't set off a pressure cooker in the church. Jesus.

 

[waltky]

Death penalty phase of trial up next...

Jurors to Decide on Death Penalty for Gunman
December 16, 2016 - The federal jury of 10 women and two men who found Dylann Roof guilty of federal hate crimes Thursday in the killings of nine African-Americans at a historic Charleston church now must wait more than two weeks for the trial’s next phase.

Jurors on Jan. 3 will begin to hear evidence about whether to give the death penalty or life without parole to the 22-year-old self-avowed white supremacist from Columbia. Jurors took two hours Thursday to find him guilty. Evidence in the case had been overwhelming, including a video confession. Federal Judge Richard Gergel told jurors that during the holiday recess, they may not look at any news accounts of one of the most sensational South Carolina trials in decades. Nor can they discuss the case with anyone — including other jurors. The killings shook South Carolina and the nation because they happened in a church, because Roof’s white supremacist motivations were so blatant and because survivors were so quick to express forgiveness. “These nine people exemplified a goodness that was greater than this message of hate,” prosecutor Nathan Williams told jurors earlier in closing arguments, urging them to find Roof guilty.

After the verdict, Gergel put Roof under oath and asked him one more time if he wants to represent himself in the death penalty phase. Roof said “yes.” His legal team of top defense lawyers will be classified as “stand-by” and be able only to offer him advice. Gergel warned Roof, a ninth-grade dropout with a GED, that he should not try to handle such a task. But Roof was firm. Gergel told him he had until Jan. 3 to change his mind. If Roof does represent himself, the jury might never get to hear testimony in line with defense attorney David Bruck’s attempts to let the jury see Roof as confused or delusional rather than rational. That kind of evidence would come from psychiatrists and others, but Roof might not call those kinds of witnesses.

Bruck did get to say to the jury that Roof absorbed racist readings on the internet but that no normal person would be moved to violence by such readings. “You have a 20-, 21-year-old-boy boy who has given his life over to the belief that there is a fight raging between white people and black people, that there is some vast conspiracy that is being covered up (to hide that fight) … and only he can do something about it,” Bruck told the jury. Prosecutors, meanwhile, told jurors Roof’s hatred is “vast.” "After he killed (the Rev.) Clementa Pinckney, he did not stop. He embraced that hatred, and he executed eight more people,” Williams said. “When you see those lists of churches, that tells you the depth, the vastness of his hatred,” he said of Roof’s list of potential targets. Jurors began deliberating shortly after 1 p.m. and asked at about 3 p.m. to rehear a portion of Roof’s taped FBI confession, from when the FBI asked if he remembered how many people were killed. They came back minutes later with guilty verdicts on all 33 counts.

Gov. Nikki Haley reacted quickly. “It is my hope that the survivors, the families and the people of South Carolina can find some peace in the fact that justice has been served,” she said in a statement. During his closing arguments earlier Thursday, Bruck said Roof acted alone, without encouragement from a best friend or family members. Roof’s motivation came from things he saw on the internet. And that he originally planned to kill himself after killing others showed he thought he was in a war that required those sacrifices, Bruck said. Don’t give Roof too much credit, Bruck told jurors. “Everything he is doing is just an imitation from something he has learned from somewhere else.” Bruck said “Roof never gave an explanation for his actions except ‘he had to do it.’ But never gave an answer to ‘why.’ ”

MORE

See also:

South Carolina church gunman's two death penalty trials a rarity
Fri Dec 16, 2016 | White supremacist Dylann Roof's conviction on federal hate crimes in the Charleston church massacre sets him up to be the first person to face back-to-back federal and state death sentences since the United States reinstated the death penalty at the national level in 1988.

Roof, found guilty on Thursday on all counts in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina in 2015, begins the punishment phase in his federal trial on Jan. 3. His state trial on murder charges is expected to start about two weeks after that, and local prosecutors also want him executed. The dual death sentence-eligible trials are unprecedented in the modern era of the U.S. death penalty, legal experts said on Friday, and raise questions about judicial fairness, the emotional toll on survivors and victims' families and potential legal problems if the two juries reach different decisions.

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. Both U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Charleston Solicitor Scarlett Wilson wanted justice and unlike in lower-profile cases, no deal was reached to allow only one prosecutor to try the case. Christopher Adams, a Charleston lawyer who is the secretary of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the Roof case "is a terrible crime that gets everyone’s attention. "However, there has to be an adult decision made and there should only be one trial and it should be as fair as it can be. That decision wasn’t made," said Adams who has represented several defendants in death penalty cases.

South Carolina church massacre shooting suspect Dylann Roof is seen in U.S. District Court of South Carolina evidence photo which was originally taken from Roof's website.​

Outside the historic South Carolina church where the killings took place, several people who came to pay their respects a day after the verdicts said they wanted to see Roof stand trial again. "I believe the death penalty in this situation is appropriate, even if it's imposed twice," said the Reverend Paul Tanner Kennedy, 70, visiting from his home in New Jersey. "There are certain things that require retribution." Roof is facing different charges in the two systems for the killings in Charleston. South Carolina is prosecuting him for murder. The U.S. government prosecuted him on 33 charges that included hate crimes resulting in death. Since the reinstatement of the federal death penalty in 1988, 75 defendants have been sentenced to death and three others have received a jury recommendation of death but no death sentence from the judge, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which monitors U.S. capital punishment.

There have been three executions since then, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 2001. His accomplice Terry Nichols faced death penalty-eligible federal and state trials about seven years apart for the killings. The federal trial in 1997 was for the death of eight federal officers while the state trial was for the death of 160 others. He was convicted in both trials and sentenced to life in prison without parole in both cases. Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said pursuing a second death penalty after one has been handed out stokes criticism that politics plays a role in death penalty prosecutions. "It makes it appear as though it is less serving the interests of justice and more serving the political interests of the prosecutor," he said.

South Carolina church gunman's two death penalty trials a rarity

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - he's a mean an' nasty ruthless killer...

Judge closes hearing on South Carolina church gunman's competency
Mon Jan 2, 2017 | A judge on Monday barred the public and press from a hearing to determine if Dylann Roof is mentally fit to serve as his own lawyer in the penalty phase of his trial, when the jury will decide whether to give him the death penalty for the 2015 massacre at a South Carolina church. Roof, 22, an avowed white supremacist, shot dead nine people at the historically black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

The same jury found Roof guilty last month of 33 counts of federal hate crimes resulting in death, obstruction of religion and firearms violations. The jury will be seated again to determine whether to put Roof to death but first the judge must decide whether Roof can serve as his own attorney or whether he will be represented by court-appointed lawyers. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, whose decision was expected on Monday, said he was keeping the proceedings closed in order to avoid sequestering the jury.

South Carolina church massacre shooting suspect Dylann Roof is seen in U.S. District Court of South Carolina evidence photo which was originally taken from Roof's website.​

Gergel said he was concerned jurors would inadvertently hear potentially prejudicial information from the hearing if reporters were allowed to cover it, ruling that protecting Roof's right to a fair trial outweighed the media's right to view the hearing. The judge rejected arguments from press attorney Jay Bender and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson, who wanted an open hearing. Gergel also banned relatives of the victims from attending. The judge previously found Roof competent to stand trial after a hearing held in November ahead of the guilt phase but on Monday was due to hear new testimony from forensic psychiatrist James Ballenger, who examined Roof for five hours over the weekend, Gergel said.

Police lead suspected shooter Dylann Roof into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina​

Roof's standby lawyers filed a motion arguing that Roof was not competent to stand trial or represent himself after he revealed at a hearing last week that he would present no evidence or witnesses during the sentencing phase. His announcement raised "in especially stark fashion the question of whether the defendant is actually unable to defend himself," the lawyers said in a court filing. A team led by prominent capital defense lawyer David Bruck represented Roof during the guilt phase of the trial. Roof has opted to represent himself for the sentencing phase, due to begin on Tuesday, and has sought to keep jurors from hearing evidence about his competency and mental health.

Judge closes hearing on South Carolina church gunman's competency

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - he ain't crazy - he's demonic...

South Carolina church gunman said 'I'm not crazy' as he fired: witness
Jan 04 2017 - The widow of the pastor who was among the nine people killed by white supremacist Dylann Roof told a federal jury on Wednesday she heard the gunman say he was not crazy during the rampage at a historic black church in South Carolina.

Jennifer Pinckney said she hid with her 6-year-old daughter under a desk as Roof opened fire in an adjoining room at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, where her husband, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, and parishioners gathered for a Bible study meeting on June 17, 2015. "I heard Mr. Roof say, 'I'm not crazy. I have to do this,'" said Pinckney, the first witness to testify for U.S. prosecutors seeking the death penalty. Prosecutors plan to call nearly 40 people to tell jurors how their lives were ripped apart by the shocking crime, carried out by Roof after churchgoers had their eyes closed in prayer.

Spouses and friends drew tears and laughter as they shared memories of victims Clementa Pinckney and Myra Thompson, who led Bible study the night of the shooting. Roof also spoke to jurors, saying he was representing himself because he did not want them to hear any mental health evidence - but insisting he is not mentally ill. The same jury last month found Roof guilty of 33 federal counts of hate crimes resulting in death, obstruction of religion and firearms charges. "There's nothing wrong with me psychologically," said Roof, making no mention of the crime or the racist ideology prosecutors said spurred the massacre.

Dylann Storm Roof appears by closed-circuit television at his bond hearing in Charleston, South Carolina​

Roof, whose opening statement lasted mere minutes, also did not say whether he wants to live. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled on Monday Roof was mentally fit to stand trial and act as his own lawyer, despite defense attorneys' concerns about Roof's plans to present no witnesses or evidence that might convince jurors to spare his life. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams told jurors Roof deserved to be executed, highlighting his months of planning, lack of remorse and his motivation. "He killed them because of the color of their skin, because he thought they were less than people," said Williams, who showed jurors photos of each victim.

Six weeks after Roof's arrest, jailers found a handwritten note in his cell expressing white supremacist views, Williams said. "I am not sorry," Roof wrote. "I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed."

South Carolina church gunman said 'I'm not crazy' as he fired: witness

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - he knows he's guilty an' deserves to die...

South Carolina church shooter refuses to defend himself
Mon Jan 9, 2017 | White supremacist Dylann Roof on Monday stood by his pledge not to testify or call any witnesses who might persuade jurors not to sentence him to death for killing nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015.

That leaves jurors deciding his fate to consider only the evidence offered by U.S. prosecutors, including four days of poignant testimony from more than 20 family and friends of the victims, who recounted the lives of their loved ones, ages 26 to 87, and the impact of their deaths. Roof is representing himself. The jury last month found him guilty of 33 counts of federal hate crimes resulting in death, obstruction of religion and firearms charges for the massacre during a Bible study meeting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Deliberations about whether Roof should be put to death or sent to prison for life were scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel denied Roof's request that the judge decide his sentence rather than the jury. Earlier Monday, federal prosecutors rested their case in the penalty phase after several family members spoke about Tywanza Sanders, 26, who according to trial testimony told the gunman, "You don't have to do this" before he was shot at least five times. Sanders was ambitious, determined and headstrong, his sister, Shirrene Goss, said. "He was not fearful to try anything and not fearful to say what was on his mind," she said.

Sentencing deliberations are expected to start Tuesday as Department of Homeland Security officers stand outside the Charleston Federal Courthouse during the federal trial of Dylann Roof in Charleston, South Carolina=​

At the time of his death, the college graduate - who was the youngest of the victims, had been preparing to move to Florida to study audio engineering, said his mother, Felicia Sanders, one of three survivors of the shooting. "The hardest thing was when (the school) called to say 'Where's Tywanza Sanders? He didn't show up at class,'" his mother told jurors. "And my husband had to say 'He died, he can't come, he's no longer with us.'"

Roof did not ask questions of witnesses. He seldom objected to the government's evidence detailing his premeditation and lack of remorse, including a racist manifesto written from his jail cell after his arrest. He told jurors in an opening statement last week that he was serving as his own lawyer to prevent their hearing details about his mental health. The lawyers who represented him during the trial's guilt phase said Roof's strategy proved he was not fit to represent himself. However, Gergel twice ruled Roof competent.

South Carolina church shooter refuses to defend himself

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dat is one goofy-assed white boy...

Relatives of Slain Charleston Churchgoers Confront Gunman for Last Time
January 11, 2017 — One by one, family members of nine slain black parishioners confronted Dylann Roof for the last time Wednesday, shouting at him, offering forgiveness and even offering to visit him in prison as he awaits execution for the slaughter.

The 22-year-old avowed white supremacist, who was formally sentenced to death, refused to meet their gaze and simply stared ahead, his head tilted down slightly as it had been for much of his trial. "Dylann," Janet Scott said quietly as she started speaking. "Dylann! DYLANN!" she said, her voice rising. Toward the end of her remarks, she said, "I wish you would look at me, boy." Scott, an aunt of 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders, the youngest victim killed in the massacre, demanded that Roof look at her as she talked about her nephew's "great big heart," which could not be donated because of the police investigation. The final statements came a day after jurors sentenced an unrepentant Roof to death. The gunman had one final opportunity to ask for mercy but instead told jurors he still "felt like I had to do it." Although family members testified at Roof's trial, the formal sentencing hearing was intended gave them a chance to speak directly to him, without prosecutors or the judge interrupting or asking questions.

Roof also had an opportunity to speak but declined to say anything. He is the first person ordered executed for a federal hate crime. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel said, "This hate, this viciousness, this moral depravity, will not go unanswered." Some of the relatives looked directly at Roof. Others chose to look at jurors, who did not have to be in court Wednesday but told the judge they wanted to attend. Sheila Capers, the sister-in-law of Cynthia Hurd, said she prayed for Roof's soul to be saved. "If at any point before you are sentenced and you're in prison and you want me to come and pray with you, I will do that," Capers said. Felicia Sanders, who survived the attack, said she forgave Roof, echoing comments she made after the shooting. But, she noted, Roof did nothing to save himself. He served as his own attorney during the sentencing phase and never explained the massacre or asked for his life to be spared.

Dylann Roof is seen in this June 18, 2015 handout booking photo provided by Charleston County Sheriff's Office.​

Sanders brought the bullet-torn, bloodstained Bible she had with her on the night of the June 17, 2015. She told Roof he still lives in her head, and that when she hears a balloon pop or fireworks, it returns her to that night. "Most importantly, I can't shut my eyes to pray," Sanders said. On the night of the shooting, Roof sat through a 45-minute Bible study session at the black church known as Mother Emanuel with 12 others. He opened fire as they stood and closed their eyes for a final prayer. In all, he fired 77 shots. Each victim was hit at least five times.

Three people survived. Roof told one of them he was sparing her life so she could tell the world he was killing the worshippers at Emanuel AME because he hated black people. The willingness of some of the relatives to forgive the gunman was widely discussed in the days after the killings. But that did not mean they felt his life should be spared. And there are others who said forgiveness is still a work in progress. "You are Satan. Instead of a heart, you have a cold, dark space," Gracyn Doctor, the daughter of DePayne Middleton-Doctor, said, expressing hope that Roof would "go straight to hell."

When he was arrested, Roof told FBI agents that he wanted the shootings to bring back segregation or perhaps start a race war. Instead, the slayings had a unifying effect as South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its Statehouse for the first time in more than 50 years. Other states followed suit, taking down Confederate banners and monuments. Roof had posed with the flag in photos. The jury convicted Roof last month of all 33 federal charges he faced. He insisted he was not mentally ill and did not call any witnesses or present any evidence.

http://www.voanews.com/a/relatives-slain-churchgoers-confront-gunman-last-time/3672512.html[/quote][/CENTER]

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - appealed an' denied...

Calling attorneys his 'political and biological enemies,' Dylann Roof seeks new ones for federal appeal
Sep 18, 2017 - Emanuel AME Church shooter Dylann Roof filed a handwritten request in his federal appeals case Monday seeking new attorneys, saying the ones appointed to him are Jewish and Indian and therefore "my political and biological enemies."

Roof, who received a death sentence in January for killing nine black church worshippers because of their race, penned his three-page motion from an Indiana prison that houses the federal execution chamber. A self-described "white nationalist," Roof added that he already had found it impossible to work with his lead trial attorney, David Bruck, because he too was Jewish. "His ethnicity was a constant source of conflict even with my constant efforts to look past it," Roof wrote in his new motion. "Trust is a vital component in an attorney client relationship, and is important to the effectiveness of the defense. Because of my political views, which are arguably religious, it will be impossible for me to trust two attorneys that are my political and biological enemies."

Given the ethnicity of his court-appointed federal public defenders, Alexandra Yates and Sapna Mirchandani, it is "literally impossible that they and I could have the same interests related to my case," Roof wrote. Yates and Mirchandani were appointed after Roof was sentenced to death in January. During the trial, he often feuded with Bruck, who wanted to present evidence of mental illness and possible autism in an effort to garner Roof a life sentence. Roof sought to represent himself in response, although he wound up allowing Bruck to serve as lead counsel during the guilt portion of the trial. Roof still represented himself during the sentencing phase to ensure Bruck could not introduce mental health evidence.

At one point, Roof told Bruck he hated him and that "if he gets out of jail, he plans to come to Mr. Bruck's house and kill him," according to an affidavit filed by the defense team. After his death sentence was imposed, Roof asked U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel to appoint him new lawyers so he didn't have to continue with Bruck and his team. "I just don't trust them," Roof said. Roof sent his new motion to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia. He added that he wants his appeals to go as smoothly as possible with lawyers that have "my best interest in mind."

Calling attorneys his 'political and biological enemies,' Dylann Roof seeks new ones for federal appeal

See also:

Appeals court denies Dylann Roof's request to replace lawyers he called 'political and biological enemies'
Sep 19, 2017 - A federal court denied Emanuel AME Church shooter Dylann Roof's request for new attorneys to handle his appeal, without comment, on his argument the ones appointed to him are Jewish and Indian and therefore "my political and biological enemies."

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia issued a one-line ruling Tuesday saying only "the court denies the motion for substitution of counsel on appeal." Roof, who received a death sentence in January for killing nine black church worshippers because of their race, penned his three-page motion from an Indiana prison that houses the federal execution chamber. A self-described white nationalist, Roof added he'd already found it impossible to work with his lead trial attorney, David Bruck, because he too is Jewish.

"His ethnicity was a constant source of conflict even with my constant efforts to look past it," Roof wrote in his motion. "Trust is a vital component in an attorney client relationship, and is important to the effectiveness of the defense. Because of my political views, which are arguably religious, it will be impossible for me to trust two attorneys that are my political and biological enemies." Given the ethnicity of his court-appointed federal public defenders — Alexandra Yates and Sapna Mirchandani, it is "literally impossible that they and I could have the same interests related to my case," Roof wrote.

Yates and Mirchandani were appointed after Roof was sentenced to death in January. During the trial, he often feuded with Bruck, who wanted to present evidence of mental illness and possible autism in an effort to garner Roof a life sentence. Roof represented himself during portions of the trial to block Bruck's strategy, and he reportedly threatened to kill Bruck at one point if he managed to get out of jail, according to court documents. After his death sentence was imposed, Roof asked for new lawyers so he didn't have to continue with Bruck and his team, saying "I just don't trust them."

Appeals court denies Dylann Roof's request to replace lawyers he called 'political and biological enemies'

 

[HappyJoy]

And here we go again with Hillary, already bitchin' over race and gun control, although we all know gun control laws wouldn't of made any difference in regards to the events of Wednesday June 17. If Dylann wanted to take out a few black people, nothing would of stopped him. And if he decided to make a bomb out of a pressure cooker, would Hillary be proposing new, and more complex laws in regards to purchasing a pressure cooker at Wal-Mart or Sears? Would those under the age of 27 be required to acquire a license? Take a course in "Pressure Cooker Handling 2.0?

Pressure cooker bombs are already illegal, moron.