The gunman accused of killing nine people at a South Carolina church in June has pleaded not guilty to US federal charges against him.
The suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, appeared at a brief but emotional US federal court hearing on Friday.
His lawyer, David Bruck, told the court that Roof wanted to plead guilty to the charges, but he could not advise Roof on how to plead without knowing whether prosecutors planned to pursue the death penalty against him.
Roof was escorted into the courtroom in a bluish-gray striped prison jumpsuit, bound by tight shackles. Appearing to bite his lip as he took his seat, he stared downward and made no eye contact.
Flanked by his lawyers, Roof stood as Magistrate Judge Bristow Marchant read through 33 federal charges that included hate crimes resulting in death, weapons charges and obstructing the practice of religion. Roof could face the death penalty in 18 of the 33 charges against him for the June 17 shooting rampage at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.
Asked if he understood the charges, Roof quietly said “yes.”
When Marchant asked how Roof wished to plead, Bruck surprised the courtroom with the response.
“Mr Roof has told us that he wishes to plead guilty,” Bruck said. “Until we know whether the government will be seeking the death penalty, we are not able to advise Mr Roof.”
Marchant then directed a plea of not guilty, for the time being.
Reached by telephone after the hearing, a colleague of Bruck’s, Michael O’Connell, declined to comment on the reasoning behind Roof’s wish to plead guilty.
At a news conference last week, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that federal charges against Roof were appropriate because South Carolina had no state hate-crimes law. Lynch said Roof hoped the attack would “fan racial flames” and exact revenge for what he believed were wrongs that African-Americans committed against white people.
In a scene similar to one in state court in early June, Marchant on Friday allowed victims’ family members to make statements. Unlike the earlier hearing in which Roof was in another room, the families stood before him at a lectern.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to this young man,” said Tyrone Sanders, the father of one victim. “But for the rest of his life, I want him to hear my thoughts. I’m hurting inside. What he’s accused of doing — I want him to think about. I want him to think about what I’m thinking about for the rest of his life.”
Sanders’ son, Tywanza, 26, was killed while protecting his mother, Felicia Sanders, who survived by playing dead.
Leroy Singleton, the brother of Myra Thompson, choked back tears. “I have a heavy heart right now,” he said. “We’re going to have to move on and continue to trust God.”
Of Roof, he echoed the sentiments expressed by families of victims last month: “We have no ill will toward him,” he said.
Outside the courtroom, Reverend Norvel Goff, the interim pastor of Emanuel AME Church, said: “We want to make sure that hate never overtakes love and that our faith is stronger than the fear that evil may bring upon us.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the