New competency hearing slated for Charleston church shooter

Tonya Maxwell
Asheville Citizen Times

Dylann Roof, convicted of killing nine people in a Charleston church, will undergo a second hearing to determine if he is competent to stand trial, this one just ahead of a sentencing phase where jurors will decide whether he should receive life in prison or death. 

Standby counsel for Roof, 22, on Thursday filed a motion under seal asking that U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel determine whether the defendant is competent to proceed. Gergel granted that motion and scheduled the competency hearing for Monday, with jurors expected to reconvene for the sentencing phase Tuesday. 

The motion came one day after a presentencing hearing during which Roof again said he would represent himself in the sentencing phase of the trial. He told the court he plans to offer an opening statement, but will not call witnesses or submit evidence in his defense. 

Earlier this month, a federal jury in Charleston found the admitted white supremacist guilty of 33 federal counts, many of them related to hate crimes and obstruction of religion, in the June 2015 attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. All nine parishioners killed were African-American. 

Jury selection was set to begin in November, but was postponed after defense attorneys for Roof asked for a competency evaluation, one that was requested against Roof’s wishes and after he had asked to represent himself in court. 

Following two days of closed-door testimony, Gergel found Roof could understand the nature of the trial as well as its consequences and allowed the case to proceed with the defendant representing himself

Through jury selection, Roof served as his own attorney but requested that his defense team once again represent him in the guilt phase of the trial. 

With sentencing set to begin Tuesday, Roof has again dismissed the lawyers, a move that prevents them from submitting evidence that he suffers from a mental defect. Evaluations and testimony from mental health experts in the sentencing phase are often considered key mitigating factors that might persuade jurors to vote for a life sentence over execution.  

In court filings, Roof has indicated he will not call mental health experts, reversing a course his attorneys had earlier planned. 

That Roof, as a capital defendant, has elected to represent himself is an unusual but not an unheard of move. Defendants sometimes employ the strategy because they believe they are of sound mind while their counsel sees otherwise, mental health experts say.   

The initial competency hearing, still held under seal, could become public after the trial is complete at Gergel’s discretion. Roof told the judge in Wednesday’s hearing that he sees the public release of those documents as problematic. 

Roof said he is serving as his own attorney to keep evidence like that presented in the competency hearing out of the public domain.  

Gergel responded that he is still weighing the issue, complicated by a state death penalty trial expected in January, but once proceedings have concluded, the public will likely have a right to know. 

 

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