Dylann Roof Gets Bad News From Supreme Court

Justices reject appeal from gunman who killed 9 in South Carolina church
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 11, 2022 10:25 AM CDT
Supreme Court Rejects Dylann Roof's Appeal
Dylann Roof enters the courtroom at the Charleston County Judicial Center in 2017.   (Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool, File)

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Dylann Roof, who challenged his death sentence and conviction in the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation. Roof had asked the court to decide how to handle disputes between capital defendants and their attorneys over evidence related to mental illness, per the AP. The justices didn't comment Tuesday in turning away the appeal. Roof, 28, is on federal death row at a maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Ind. He can still pursue other appeals.

Roof fired his attorneys and represented himself during the sentencing phase of his capital trial, part of his effort to block evidence potentially portraying him as mentally ill. Roof shot participants at a Bible study session at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. A panel of appellate judges had previously upheld his conviction and death sentence.

(More Dylann Roof stories.)

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