Charleston (United States) (AFP) – The trial of Dylann Roof, a young man accused of gunning down nine African American churchgoers in South Carolina, opened Monday, with the suspected white supremacist facing the death penalty.
Roof, 22, allegedly used a .45 caliber Glock handgun to mow down the black victims in the June 17, 2015, massacre in a Bible study group at a traditionally black church in Charleston.
Six decades after a federal law banned racial discrimination, racism remains particularly sensitive issue in the South, the country’s former bastion of slavery, where lynchings and killings of blacks were common.
The opening days of the trial at the federal court in Charleston are expected to be devoted to the selection of the 12-member jury.
Judge Richard Gergel unexpectedly postponed the jury selection Monday morning, explaining in a statement that he needed to hold a hearing, citing “the defendant’s right to a fair and impartial jury and a fair trial.”
The mass murder that shocked US and international publics occurred at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after Roof participated in an evening Bible study class.
Also known as “Mother Emanuel,” the church is one of the oldest black congregations in the American South, with strong links to the fight against slavery and segregation.
“You rape our women!” victims’ relatives reported Roof as saying during the attack. “You’re trying to take over the country! You’ve got to go!”
Police swiftly identified him from a surveillance video and arrested him the next day.
The authorities found chilling evidence of Roof’s apparent neo-Nazi leanings on a website believed to be his. He espoused racist views toward African Americans and posed for photos with firearms and the Confederate battle flag.
Speculation over Roof’s case is focused on whether he will receive a sentence of life in prison or death.
In addition to the federal charges that could result in a death sentence, Roof is facing South Carolina charges that could also result in capital punishment. The separate state trial is expected to begin in January.
Roof’s defense team has signaled that he was ready to plead guilty in exchange for being spared execution. A negotiated deal remains possible.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has long opposed capital punishment, said Monday that despite the Charleston killings it “opposes the death penalty for Mr. Roof.”
“Such a sentence would have the perverse effect of justifying the routine, racially discriminatory imposition of the death penalty on black people,” wrote Christina Swarns, director of litigation at the organization, in an op-ed article in The New York Times.
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