Dylann Roof, the unabashed white supremacist who shot and killed nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church two years ago, says he wants to fire his attorneys because they are Jewish and Indian.
Roof, who was sent to death row for the June 2015 massacre at a historically black church in Charleston, said it's "quite literally impossible" that he and the two public defenders appointed to handle his appeal could have the same interests relating to his case.
"Because of my political views, which are arguably religious, it will be impossible for me to trust two attorneys that are my political and biological enemies," Roof said in a handwritten, three-page motion filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
The 23-year-old added that the ethnicities of his attorneys, Alexandra Yates and Sapna Mirchandani, are "a barrier to effective communication."
The court will review Roof's motion and decide whether he should be appointed new attorneys. Yates and Mirchandani did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Roof has been on death row since a jury convicted him of dozens of charges, including federal hate crimes, for the deaths of nine parishioners who had invited him into their Bible study at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Federal prosecutors said Roof committed the massacre to try to start a race war, and they presented as evidence his videotaped confession, in which Roof made no effort to deny the killings.
The two-hour video, played during the third day of Roof's trial in December, showed him calm — laughing at times — as he confessed to the deadly shooting rampage. He was nonchalant when he explained to FBI agents why he chose to gun down six women and three men.
With a few swift motions of his right arm, he demonstrated how he pulled out his .45-caliber Glock and opened fire — taking 77 total shots.
"Well yeah, I mean, I just went to that church in Charleston and, uh, I did it," Roof told agents when they asked him to explain what happened.
Roof wavered briefly when the agents asked him to describe exactly what he had done.
"Well, I killed them, I guess," he said.
He also tried to justify the killings, saying what he did was "so minuscule" to what black people are "doing to white people every day all the time."
"I had to do it because somebody had to do something," he told the agents. "Black people are killing white people every day on the street, and they are raping white women."
Prosecutors also introduced Roof's jailhouse journal, in which he wrote that he does not regret what he did.
"I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed," he said.
Roof's new court filing isn't the first time he has complained about his attorneys.
During his trial, he sought to drop his defense attorney, David Isaac Bruck, whom Roof threatened to kill if he got out of jail. Bruck is also Jewish.
Roof sought to argue on his own behalf during the trial's sentencing phase, a portion of a capital murder case during which defense attorneys argue for a more lenient sentence. A judge later determined that Roof was competent to represent himself as long as his legal team was on standby.
In the handwritten motion filed Monday, Roof said Bruck's Jewish heritage "was a constant source of conflict" despite Roof's efforts to "look past it."
The "difficulties" at his trial, Roof argued, should justify removal of his public defenders, who are serving as his appellate attorneys. He said his appeal "should be worked on and written by lawyers with my best interests in mind."
Roof was also charged at the state level. He avoided a second death penalty trial after pleading guilty in March to nine counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and a related weapons charge. He was given nine consecutive life sentences in April.
Court records unsealed in May provided a glimpse into Roof's mind. Experts who examined him said he was less concerned over his own fate and worried more about whether certain family members were eating together, how his cats were doing without him, what was written on his Wikipedia page and what he was going to wear in court.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-news:page/in-the-news&utm_term=.e47868a3e968
Somebody get this fine young American a Whopper an fries!
Y'know, there was a lot of bad behavior on many sides.
Roof, who was sent to death row for the June 2015 massacre at a historically black church in Charleston, said it's "quite literally impossible" that he and the two public defenders appointed to handle his appeal could have the same interests relating to his case.
"Because of my political views, which are arguably religious, it will be impossible for me to trust two attorneys that are my political and biological enemies," Roof said in a handwritten, three-page motion filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
The 23-year-old added that the ethnicities of his attorneys, Alexandra Yates and Sapna Mirchandani, are "a barrier to effective communication."
The court will review Roof's motion and decide whether he should be appointed new attorneys. Yates and Mirchandani did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Roof has been on death row since a jury convicted him of dozens of charges, including federal hate crimes, for the deaths of nine parishioners who had invited him into their Bible study at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Federal prosecutors said Roof committed the massacre to try to start a race war, and they presented as evidence his videotaped confession, in which Roof made no effort to deny the killings.
The two-hour video, played during the third day of Roof's trial in December, showed him calm — laughing at times — as he confessed to the deadly shooting rampage. He was nonchalant when he explained to FBI agents why he chose to gun down six women and three men.
With a few swift motions of his right arm, he demonstrated how he pulled out his .45-caliber Glock and opened fire — taking 77 total shots.
"Well yeah, I mean, I just went to that church in Charleston and, uh, I did it," Roof told agents when they asked him to explain what happened.
Roof wavered briefly when the agents asked him to describe exactly what he had done.
"Well, I killed them, I guess," he said.
He also tried to justify the killings, saying what he did was "so minuscule" to what black people are "doing to white people every day all the time."
"I had to do it because somebody had to do something," he told the agents. "Black people are killing white people every day on the street, and they are raping white women."
Prosecutors also introduced Roof's jailhouse journal, in which he wrote that he does not regret what he did.
"I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed," he said.
Roof's new court filing isn't the first time he has complained about his attorneys.
During his trial, he sought to drop his defense attorney, David Isaac Bruck, whom Roof threatened to kill if he got out of jail. Bruck is also Jewish.
Roof sought to argue on his own behalf during the trial's sentencing phase, a portion of a capital murder case during which defense attorneys argue for a more lenient sentence. A judge later determined that Roof was competent to represent himself as long as his legal team was on standby.
In the handwritten motion filed Monday, Roof said Bruck's Jewish heritage "was a constant source of conflict" despite Roof's efforts to "look past it."
The "difficulties" at his trial, Roof argued, should justify removal of his public defenders, who are serving as his appellate attorneys. He said his appeal "should be worked on and written by lawyers with my best interests in mind."
Roof was also charged at the state level. He avoided a second death penalty trial after pleading guilty in March to nine counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and a related weapons charge. He was given nine consecutive life sentences in April.
Court records unsealed in May provided a glimpse into Roof's mind. Experts who examined him said he was less concerned over his own fate and worried more about whether certain family members were eating together, how his cats were doing without him, what was written on his Wikipedia page and what he was going to wear in court.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-news:page/in-the-news&utm_term=.e47868a3e968
Somebody get this fine young American a Whopper an fries!
Y'know, there was a lot of bad behavior on many sides.
