Competency issue delays Roof trial

CHARLESTON – The death penalty trial of Dylann Roof has again been delayed after the federal judge overseeing the case determined the defendant must first undergo a competency evaluation.

Jury selection in the federal case against Roof, 22, was scheduled to begin Wednesday, but has been pushed off until Nov. 21 after an issue arose concerning his ability to stand trial.

“The competency evaluation is now underway with a report to the court anticipated [on Monday],” U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel wrote in a two-paragraph order filed Tuesday evening. “The best practice in such circumstances is to delay court proceedings until a competency determination is made.”

Gergel wrote he expects to conduct a hearing on the competency issue on Nov. 16, a Wednesday, and will issue an order by that Friday.

Roof stands accused of 33 federal charges, many of them based on hate crime laws, in the June 2015 shootings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Officials said he joined parishioners at a Wednesday evening Bible Study and spent about an hour in study before firing on the group, leaving nine African Americans dead.

The church, known as Mother Emanuel, is among the nation’s oldest historically black houses of worship. Roof before the shooting wrote in a racially charged manifesto that he targeted Charleston because it is South Carolina’s most historic city.

Roof had earlier offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, a deal rejected by prosecutors, who move forward with a capital case.

The most rigorous phase of jury selection, one in which prospective jurors would be questioned individually, was scheduled to begin Monday, but was postponed suddenly by Gergel that morning after Roof’s defense attorneys filed a motion under seal.

The motion required his immediate attention, Gergel said. Shortly after, the judge held a closed hearing on the issue, barring the presence of prosecutors, the press and the public.

He declined to discuss the nature of the hearing, writing in an order that divulging it would infringe on Roof’s right to a fair and impartial trial and attorney-client privilege.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys have declined to comment on the competency issue.

Should the court determine that Roof is currently incompetent to stand trial, that decision could temporary delay a trial or derail it altogether.

Competency became a major issue in the 2011 case of Jared Loughner, charged in the Tucson, Arizona, shootings that targeted U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. Giffords was wounded, but survived. Six others were murdered in the attack.

The courts first found Loughner incompetent to stand trial, but later restored his competency at which time he pleaded guilty to federal charges and was sentenced to seven life terms.

“The court is mindful that this delay in jury selection may be disappointing to some, but it is the court’s duty to conduct a fair trial and follow procedures which protect the legal rights of the defendant,” Gergel wrote of the Roof order. “Under the present circumstances, the court finds this brief delay in jury selection to serve the ends of justice.”