Dylann Roof, the white supremacist convicted of the racist slaying of nine Black congregation members in Charleston, says his conviction and death sentence should be overturned.
Roof’s attorneys argued in a brief that an appellate court should vacate his convictions and death sentence or remand his case to court for a “proper competency evaluation.”
“The federal trial that resulted in his death sentence departed so far from the standard required when the government seeks the ultimate price that it cannot be affirmed,” they wrote. They argue that his self-representation in court resulted from his alleged mental illness, which prevented him from hiring effective counsel.
According to the Associated Press, oral arguments in the appellate case are scheduled for Tuesday (May 25) before a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va.
In 2015, Roof was arrested for opening fire during the closing prayer of a Bible study session at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church. He was 21 at the time.
Roof, now 27, became the first person in the United States sentenced to death for a federal hate crime in 2017. U.S. Judge Richard Gergel sentenced him after a jury found him guilty of 18 death-eligible federal hate crimes and firearms charges.
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In a subsequent proceeding to determine the sentence, the same jury ruled. Roof deserved the death penalty. For murdering nine innocent people at Mother Emanuel A.M.E., Roof was given nine consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty.
Before his trial and before his sentencing phase, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel held competency hearings to determine if the convicted murderer could act as his own attorney.
However, according to his appellate counsel, Roof successfully prevented jurors from hearing mitigating evidence about his mental health during sentencing, “under the delusion he would be rescued from prison by white-nationalists — but only, bizarrely, if he kept his mental impairments out of the public record.”
Now, defense lawyers will advance arguments on up to 20 issues as to why Roof was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to the death penalty in 2017 after a week-long trial.
