Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by White Supremacist Mass Shooter Dylann Roof

Notorious White supremacist mass shooter Dylann Roof took his case to the United States Supreme Court to challenge his death sentence. He tried to argue that there was evidence that he had a mental illness when he defended himself during his sentencing, but the highest court in the land still rejected his appeal.

According to NPR, Roof asked the Supreme Court to decide how to handle disputes over mental illness-related evidence. This is because Roof and his attorneys disputed over portraying Roof as mentally ill.

Dylann Roof Fired His Lawyers and Decided to Represent Himself, Leading to His Death Penalty Sentence

During his trial, his attorneys tried to portray him as having a mental illness. However, Roof disagreed and fired them, leading to him defending himself during sentencing. He also tried to block evidence that would portray him as mentally ill as his case went on.

However, during the trial, he was found guilty of killing nine people at a Black church in South Carolina, leading to his death sentence.

The 28-year-old mass shooter tried to appeal that death sentence at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that he was wrongfully allowed to represent himself during the sentencing phase of his trial as he had already fired his attorneys at that time.

However, the court rejected this argument, forcing Roof to take his case to the Supreme Court.

According to the Daily Mail, he now has a new legal team. They argued that Roof was mentally ill and that the jury decided to give the death sentence to a mentally ill person who was forced to defend himself. His attorneys asked the Supreme Court earlier this year to review it on the same grounds but still rejected it.

The Justices did not comment when they turned Roof's appeal away on Tuesday.

During his trial, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel held two competency hearings for the self-avowed White Supremacist. The first one was before the trial properly began, and the second was to determine if he could act as his own attorney. However, he neither fought for his life nor explained his actions. He only defended himself by saying,"'anyone who hates anything in their mind has a good reason for it."

Who Is Dylann Roof?

In 2015, Dylan Roof entered the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. There, Black church members were conducting a Bible study session. However, according to the Associated Press, Roof suddenly started shooting and killed nine people.

His victims were DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Myrah Thompson, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Daniel Simmons, Clementa Pinckney, and Cynthia Hurd.

It was revealed that Roof followed White Supremacist ideals and even had a manifesto that outlined his hatred toward Black people and other people of color. He claimed in that manifesto that his White supremacist views developed after the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012.

He was convicted of all 33 federal charges, including hate crimes. He is currently on federal death row at a maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

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Written by: Rick Martin

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