*Dylann Roof, the 22-year-old convicted of killing nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, told a judge Wednesday he has “no plans whatsoever to call witnesses” during the sentencing phase of his federal trial, in which he could face the death penalty.
Roof, who appeared with his hands and feet shackled in a striped prison uniform, confirmed during a pretrial conference today he still intends to represent himself. The 33 federal counts against Roof included hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of exercise of religion resulting in death.
He also faces a state trial, set for early next year, in which he may also face the death penalty.
Roof, who is white, was convicted earlier this month of shooting and killing the parishioners at the predominantly black Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015. According to the federal indictment against him, he entered the church armed and “with the intent of killing African-Americans engaged in the exercise of their religious beliefs.” The parishioners welcomed Roof into their Bible study group, according to the indictment, after which Roof drew his pistol and opened fire.
The sentencing phase of his trial will begin on Tuesday, January 3.
Meanwhile, a piece of evidence released during his trial shows that he carried a list of locations where a large number of African Americans would be in attendance.
Prosecutors showed a number of notes found in Roof’s car after he was arrested outside Charlotte just a day after the massacre. One of the handwritten lists had “Emanuel AME” on it, along with the names of other Charleston churches. Another note had the names and addresses of some churches in the Columbia area.
Yet another note had the name of an historic African-American festival on it – the annual Good Hope Picnic.
According to WYFF 4, the festival is a beloved annual event held every second Friday in August in the small Calhoun County town of Lone Star, which is northeast of Orangeburg.
“We usually have about 800 to a thousand community members out here,” said Albert Fowler, the co-executive vice president of the picnic.
“We’ve got people that come from California, Philadelphia, all over. They come to this Good Hope Picnic,” added his mother, Bessie Rush.
It’s an event that’s sacred to Fowler and Rush, founded in 1915 by their ancestors, who were sharecroppers in the area, as a way to celebrate the harvest. To this day, 101 years later, members of nearby African-American churches continue to get together for the celebratory picnic each year.
But for the past few days, a short note has been haunting them. It reads, “Good Hope Picnic Elloree.” The government says it was found in the car of Roof after he killed nine in a Charleston church.
“It was alarming to me. I guess a better word would be “shocked,” because to know that the individual that committed that type of senseless crimes would actually have this area or any area on his list, that’s very alarming,” said Fowler.
“He did his homework. He was looking for places where blacks hang out, and I think that was awful, but that was his goal,” added Rush.
The prosecutor showed the list again in his closing argument and said, “All of these . . . lists were his preparation.”
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
