White supremacist appeals death penalty in church massacre

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DENISE LAVOIE

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — White supremacist Dylann Roof on Tuesday appealed his federal convictions and death sentence in the 2015 massacre of nine black church members in South Carolina, arguing that he was mentally ill when he represented himself at his capital trial.

In a 321-page legal brief filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Roof’s lawyers ask the court to review 20 issues, including errors they say were made by the judge and prosecutors that “tainted” his sentencing.

One of their main arguments is that U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel should not have allowed Roof to represent himself during the penalty phase of his trial because he was a 22-year-old ninth-grade dropout “who believed his sentence didn’t matter because white nationalists would free him from prison after an impending race war.”

Roof’s appellate lawyers said Roof had been diagnosed with “schizophrenia-spectrum disorder, autism, anxiety, and depression,” but that he “jettisoned” his experienced trial attorneys to stop them from preventing evidence of his mental illness to jurors.



FILE - In this April 10, 2017, file photo, Dylann Roof enters the court room at the Charleston County Judicial Center to enter his guilty plea on murder charges in Charleston, S.C. White supremacist Roof on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, appealed his federal convictions and death sentence in the 2015 massacre of nine black church members in South Carolina, arguing that he was mentally ill when he represented himself at his capital trial. (Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/941055904ee3722801c6189630b002ea

[bucolic_frolic]

1. If he was mentally ill at trial, how was he so shrewd to ditch his lawyers to prove mental illness?

It's just new lawyers using psychologists to escape justice, IMO.

[demosincebirth]

2. Life without parole. Give him lots of time to think about those 9 lives he maliciously took.

[AlexSFCA]

3. I'm for it: let him live whole life in hell on earth first

before going to hell for eternity

[Progressive Jones]

4. Nope. He must die, ASAP. A message must be sent, and an example made.

His kind needs to learn to get into line. They are otherwise unacceptable.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Ah, yes.

Murdering someone to show that murder is wrong.

Works every time, doesn't it?

That's why states with the death penalty have fewer murders than those without, right?

Oh.

[marble falls]

14. And I don't want anyone murdered by the state in my name.

[BlueWI]

19. So, you don't mind being the person in prison to guard him?

I don't want someone else to do the hard, daily work of guarding a notorious convicted murderer for the sake our my conscience.

I also think the death penalty should be federal law only so there's not the state-by-state differences in what cases are considered to be a capital crime.

But some prisoners, by the nature of their crimes and personality, remain a threat to society while in jail. Ted Bundy escaped from jail twice and inflicted unspeakable harm on others after his escape.

It won't happen again. And nobody has to unlock his cell or give him medical treatment. I think that's a good thing.

[marble falls]

21. My daughter is prion guard over a unit of super max prisoners in MO preparing for release ...

so I have a little bit more insight on that than you think.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/gary-ridgway-ted-bundy


How Ted Bundy Helped Catch America’s Worst Serial Killer, Gary Ridgway
By All That's Interesting
Published November 13, 2017

Updated October 30, 2019

By the time his trial was over, Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, had confessed to more killings than any American serial killer before him.

<snip>

Ted Bundy Helps Crack The Case

Eventually in 1984, their interviews led them to famed serial killer Ted Bundy.

Bundy had been imprisoned for the past six years for murder, rape, burglary, and necrophilia and was, at the time, awaiting his electrocution, which would come three years later.

Having deplorable, but valuable, first-hand experience with the same kinds of killings that had been happening in the Green River area, Bundy proved to be an asset to the case. He became a regular interviewee of the Keppel and Reichert and offered his opinion on the psychology of the killer, as well as his motivations and behavior.

During one interview session, Bundy suggested that the killer was most likely revisiting his dump sites to engage in sexual intercourse with the bodies. He advised the investigators that in case they find a fresh grave, stake it out and wait for the killer to return.

Bundy’s theories turned out to be true, and the police were able to use them to collect samples and provide evidence for an arrest warrant. However, it took police until 2001 to finally arrest Gary Ridgway.


<snip>

How many people have escaped Super-Max facilities?

Zero, zip, nada.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

25. I'm trying to figure out which part of the commandment that

says you aren't supposed to kill has a loophole.

Or, for those of us not religiously inclined, how state-sanctioned murder is okay.

[MicaelS]

33. Because the original Hebrew states...

Thou shall not MURDER.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou_shalt_not_kill

Justified killing: due consequence for crime
The Torah and Hebrew Bible made clear distinctions between the shedding of innocent blood versus killing as the due consequence of a crime. A number of sins were considered to be worthy of the death penalty including murder, incest, bearing false witness on a capital charge, adultery, idolatry, bestiality,[ child sacrifice to pagan gods, cursing a parent, fortune-telling, homosexuality, and other sins.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

34. A Jewish friend of mine once told me that the original

translates simply as No Kill.

Reading the Wiki article, it looks as if both "kill" and "murder" can be accepted as translation. And, in English anyway, it's always the word "kill" that's used.

Meanwhile, I am personally opposed to the death penalty.

[Judi Lynn]

40. I learned in the last years the right-wing reactionaries have rewritten the bible

to indulge their own selfish search for gratification, not just reinterpreting the original in their own interests, but eliminating what has been clearly written in the original, wiser translation altogether.

Romans 12:19 . . .

" 19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

. . .

So easy to see, with a little thought it's as though the Tea Partiers chose to rewrite the whole "Holy Book" in a way which would cede, with God's blessings authority over all behavior to conform to their own point of view. I was horrified when I learned some time ago they were trying to split hairs over that command from their own scriptures to claim they can, too, kill them, (suspects) if they want to! They have declared themselves little kings, with power over other people's lives perpetually.

[Progressive Jones]

27. He needs to be dead. Sorry, not sorry. nt

[rabid_decline]

24. There's a far more simple way

I used to be a capitol punishment proponent- back when I was 15, and identified as conservative. I’m well more than twice that age now and far more apt in my views. Here’s the simple way though; chances are Dylan Roof has been PC’d, Protective Custody. Which is probably the core of why he’s so miserable. The isolation must be maddening. Unless he’s truly spectrum disordered. But they don’t need to explore the death penalty. He’d never truly be exalted as a white nationalist hero/mastermind. All they have to do is release Mr. Roof into GP (general pop) and the chips will most certainly fall as they may.
Manson loved prison. He was psychologically institutionalized before he was even an adult. He was smart enough to find ways to insulate himself from General Pop, cause he knew enough about the system that if he just wigged out just enough and spewed psycho babble he’d be insulated away from the Mexican and black gangs who would have done unspeakable things to him.
In his mind, all Manson needed was his platform, his art, and his comforts.
With Mr. Roof, he doesn’t have anything near the psychopathic street smarts to navigate a prison yard or cell block. Obviously Dahmer didn’t either. I’d say no death penalty, just put him in GP. He wouldn’t last a month

[sarisataka]

31. There was a time I was against extrajudicial punishment

And tacitly sanctioned mob murder.

I find it is still that time.

[keithbvadu2]

5. Sane enough to not want to be called insane. Now sane enough to change tactics.

Sane enough to not want to be called insane.

Now sane enough to change tactics.

[keithbvadu2]

9. The flag they burn

The flag they burn

[keithbvadu2]

10. The flag they respect

The flag they respect

[safeinOhio]

12. The surrender flag.

[csziggy]

32. Wasn't there a book, a movie, and a series about that?

[PatrickforO]

6. Uh....no.

[Hekate]

7. Consequences too tough for you, you little shit?

Just another one of Trump's stochastic terrorists.

[iluvtennis]

11. He confessed to killing 9 people in the church. May he rot in his excrement. nt

[marble falls]

13. He may be filled with hate, he definately is a murderer, he was responsible in that he ...

understood the consequences of his actions, but he is crazy as a bedbug and life imprisonment is the proper sentence.

[groundloop]

17. Yes, let him rot in a prison cell. No death penalty even for vermin like him.

[BigmanPigman]

15. Karma baby, Karma!

An eye for an eye, do unto others, etc. Tough shit, murderer. Suffering in pain for several lifetimes is too good for you.

[BlueWI]

16. So his lawyers want him to have a 60-year platform in jail for his white supremacist views?

A waste of the court's time. It would be better spent on 8 more murder trials.

I'm not a strong supporter of the death penalty, but would we all be better off if Ted Bundy was still alive?

There are many more deserving cases that call for legal representation and empathy from others. Complete the punishment and move on.

[marble falls]

18. No one, not even racists listen to one freaking thing he's got to say. He's pathetic.

Interestingly enough, Bundy might well have been more valuable alive than dead.

[BlueWI]

20. Remember Charles Manson?

What did we all gain from the extra 60 years? That's plenty of time for songwriting, manipulating people outside of the prison, and becoming an admired symbol of white supremacy.

if you think Ted Bundy would be more valuable alive than dead, I got nothing.

[marble falls]

22. Seriously. You compare Manson to Root? But you're right ...

you got nothing.

How many muders did Manson or his followers commit after they were in prison. Name one murder committed in Manson's name after he was put in the clink. How many prison guards, nurses etc did Manson and his jailed followers attack after their incarceration.

Take as much time as you need.

[BlueWI]

35. How many murders did Bundy commit after his initial incarceration?

Do your own research if you want to argue that Bundy's execution was a crime against humanity or if you feel that providing daily meals, medical care, and liberty of speech was a positive outcome out of the Manson sentencing.

Are you really suggesting that inspiration to murder is the only physical or mental hazard to working in a high security prison? Ok then.

If you're personally doing that correctional work instead of outsourcing it to others, that's one thing. I do have family members that have worked in California correctional facilities and I have done a minimal amount of public speaking myself in these facilities. Obviously opinions vary, but it's one thing to stand on principle, and it's another thing to do the work.

With all the miscarriages of justice that occur routinely, I'll leave empathy for Bundy, Manson, and Roof to others.

[jberryhill]

29. Appeals are mandatory in capital cases

And for good reason

[BlueWI]

36. Fair enough. eom

[3Hotdogs]

23. Berkowitz (Son of Sam) has been in the slammer for over 50 years. I support that.

Roof ---- fry his ass. That may prevent a couple of other assholes from imitating his actions.

[MarcA]

26. he can help repay his crimes to society. There are diseases

that need actual humans on which to test treatments.

[Ron Obvious]

28. I'm against the death penalty in all cases

It doesn't act as a deterrent, it doesn't even save the state money.

It's nothing but vengeance, and it's not how a civilised state behaves.

[Mc Mike]

30. Life in prison with no possibility of parole. Good enough for him.

[TheFourthMind]

37. When will one of these selectively mentally ill wastes of life proudly stand by their actions?

Commit massacre. Plead guilty. Plead sane. Take medicine. Fuck off and die.

[ck4829]

38. What a disgusting white nationalist terrorist

[olddad65]

39. The death penalty is too good for him. Leave him in prison

In the general prison population.

[alphafemale]

41. I will not shed a tear for that soulless husk of skin

He plotted to kill human beings in their place of sanctuary.

He ruthlessly slaughtered them after they had welcomed them in.

If it is to be a life sentence, he must not be able to spew his poison to inspire others.

Life imprisonment with no media interviews.....EVER.

Life imprisonment with no visitors outside immediate family....EVER

Life imprisonment with no communication by letter or any other form of communication with anyone outside immediate family.....EVER.

[Devil Child]

43. Capital punishment is necessary for domestic terrorists

No mercy for Dylan Roof.