A federal jury sentenced the Charleston shooting accused Dylann Roof to death on Tuesday after he was found guilty on all 33 counts of murder charges. Roof shot and killed nine black parishioners at the Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, United States, in June 2015. The incident was registered as an attempted murder and federal hate crime by the authorities.
Also read: Charleston church shooting: Accused Dylan Roof confesses on tape, says 'I had to do it'
The jury, which comprised nine white and three black members, came to a unanimous verdict after three hours of deliberation, which was announced by United States district judge Richard Gergel.
Roof decided to represent himself during the sentencing and appeared unfazed by the verdict. He showed no emotion during the trial. He did not offer any apologies or explanations after the verdict either. However, many in the court seemed content with the verdict, saying that justice had been served.
"Today we had justice for my sister. This is a very hollow victory because my sister is still gone...He (Roof) just took them away from us because he wanted to. He decided the day, the hour, the moment that my sister was going to die. And now someone is going to do the same for him.... He's in God's hands now," the brother of slain churchgoer Cynthia Hurd Melvin Graham told LA Times outside the courthouse.
The 22-year-old accused had also confessed to his crimes in an interview with FBI investigators, which was recorded and played in the court in the last hearing. The two-hour conversation video, recorded shortly after Roof was taken into custody, was played before the jury in the trial. Roof was accused of entering the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on a Wednesday evening during a bible study summer and opening fire at the worshippers gathered there.
Roof acknowledged that he had confessed to FBI investigators about his crimes. But he also added: "But obviously that's not really true. I didn't have to do it. I didn't have to do anything.... What I meant when I said that was that I felt that I had to do it, and I still do feel like I had to do it. Anyone, including the prosecution, who thinks that I'm filled with hatred, has no idea what real hate is. They don't know anything about me. They don't know what real hatred looks like. They think they do, but they don't really," the Times reported.
The prosecution during their arguments described Roof's actions in the church as "tremendous cowardice" fuelled by "cold, calculated hatred."
The Southern Poverty Law Center president, Richard Cohen, had issued a statement last month, saying that Roof is the "modern face of domestic terrorism".
