Judge formally sentences church shooter Dylann Roof to death

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A judge has formally sentenced Dylann Roof to death for killing nine black worshippers in a racist massacre at a Charleston church.

U.S. Judge Richard Gergel handed down the sentence Wednesday at a hearing to affirm the jury’s decision on the death penalty for the 22-year-old avowed white supremacist. Gergel couldn’t change the jury’s decision.

Roof showed no reaction as he has through almost all of the federal hate crimes trial. He also did not choose to speak Wednesday and kept a blank face as Gergel sentenced him.

Family members of nine slain church worshippers confronted Roof on Wednesday, one of them shouting at the condemned killer as he stared ahead emotionless during his formal sentencing hearing. Others offered forgiveness and love, urging Roof to accept God into his life.

An aunt of 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders, the youngest victim killed during the 2015 slayings at a black church, demanded that the avowed white supremacist look at her as she talked about her nephew’s “great, big heart” that couldn’t be donated because of the shooting investigation.

“Dylann,” Janet Scott said quietly as she started speaking. “Dylann! DYLANN!” she said, her voice rising. Toward the end of her remarks, she said, “I wish you would look at me, boy.”

Roof, 22, didn’t look up as more than a dozen grieving people spoke. Instead, he gazed ahead, his head tilted down slightly as he has during much of the trial.

A jury sentenced an unrepentant Roof to death on Tuesday. Roof had one final opportunity to ask for mercy, but instead told jurors he still “felt like I had to do it.” Family members of the victims testified at Roof’s trial, but the formal sentencing hearing gave them a chance to speak directly to Roof, without prosecutors or the judge interrupting or asking questions. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel will formally sentence Roof later Wednesday.

Felicia Sanders, who survived the shooting, said she forgave Roof, echoing comments she made after the shooting. But she noted Roof has done nothing to save himself.

Sanders brought her bullet-torn, blood-stained Bible she had with her on the night of the June 17, 2015. She told Roof he still lives in her head, and that when she hears a balloon pop or fireworks it returns her to that night.

“Most importantly, I can’t shut my eyes to pray,” Sanders said.

Roof sat through a 45-minute Bible study at Mother Emanuel with 12 others before he opened fire as they stood and closed their eyes for a final prayer. He fired 77 shots. Each victim was hit at least five times. Three people survived. Roof told one of them he was sparing her life so she could tell the world he was killing the worshippers at Emanuel AME because he hated black people.

The daughter of one woman killed during the massacre said she doesn’t want Roof to face the death penalty.

Sharon Risher said Wednesday that 22-year-old Dylann Roof should sit in his cell and think about how he made the nine black people he killed at Emanuel AME church into martyrs.

Risher was the 21st family member to speak and the first to explicitly say he shouldn’t face the death penalty. She is the daughter of Ethel Lance.

There has been plenty of anger during the sentencing hearing. One family member told Roof he should know how they feel because his mother had a heart attack in the courtroom.

The willingness of some of the relatives to forgive dominated the news in the days after the killings. But that didn’t mean they felt his life should be spared. And there are others who said forgiveness is still a work in progress.

“You are Satan. Instead of a heart, you have a cold dark space,” said Gracyn Doctor, the daughter of DePayne Middleton-Doctor. “Hopefully you will go straight to hell because he can’t stand to look at you.”

Roof told FBI agents when they arrested him that he wanted the shootings to bring back segregation or perhaps start a race war. Instead, the slayings had a unifying effect as South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its Statehouse for the first time in more than 50 years. Other states followed suit, taking down Confederate banners and monuments. Roof had posed with the flag in photos.

The jury convicted Roof last month of all 33 federal charges he faced, including hate crimes. He never explained his actions to jurors, saying only that “anyone who hates anything in their mind has a good reason for it.”

Roof insisted he was not mentally ill and did not call any witnesses or present any evidence.