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White supremacist, Dylan Roof, faces life in prison or even execution for racially motivated attack in 2015.
Dylan Roof, who identifies himself as a white supremacist stands accused of a racially motivated attack which claimed the lives of nine African Americans in 2015. During the sentencing phase of his trial, an FBI agent testified on Friday, January 6th the suspect was wearing shoes that had racist symbols painted on them.
If the jury finds him guilty, the perpetrator could spend the rest of his life behind bars, or even be executed for the murders. Dylan Roof’s legal team are mere counselors since the defendant chose to represent himself in court. Even though he tried to convince the jurors many times he does not suffer from a mental illness, he did not ask them to spare his life, neither did he cross-examined any prosecution witnesses.
Joseph Hamski, the FBI agent who testified against Dylan Roof, claims he saw the perpetrator wearing the shoes earlier this week, on Monday. Furthermore, when authorities searched his cell as part of a suicide watch in August 2015, the law enforcement officers also found a pair of white sneakers with symbols associated with white supremacy painted on them.
During his statement, Joseph Hamski spoke about the suspect’s conversations online with a group of white supremacists shortly before the church shooting. The FBI agent revealed Dylan Roof’s online identity, as user LilAryan. Also, while incarcerated, the suspect kept a journal which contained Roof’s vision of the superiority of the white race. Several pages also had racist drawings on them, similar to those authorities discovered on his shoes.
Last month, the jury found Dylan Roof guilty of 33 federal crimes. The charges included obstruction of justice and hate crimes among many others. As the trial moves forward, the jury is expected to begin deliberating on Roof’s fate for the multiple murders at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church soon. According to the prosecution, the judge allowed jurors to begin discussions next Tuesday, January 10th.
So far, Dylan Roof did not question any prosecution witness. Instead, he focused on convincing the jurors he was not mentally ill. At the same time, prosecutors made their case around the testimonies of Roof’s friends and family members, with one testimony coming from one of the survivors of the shooting.
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Brian Galloway
Brian’s philosophy is pretty straightforward: easy living, wishful thinking, heavy criticizing. Despite the fact that he wouldn’t go as far as describe himself a conspirationist, Brian does take everything with a grain of sand. He loves following every lead when covering a story and mostly enjoys to cover politics and US news.
