CHARLESTON, S.C.: As closing arguments got underway in the hate crimes trial of Dylann Roof, US prosecutors described the warm welcome the white supremacist was given at a black church in South Carolina and how worshipers had their eyes closed in prayer when the accused gunman opened fire.
“Hatred had no place in that sanctuary, and hatred had no place at those Bible study tables,” prosecutor Nathan Williams said on Thursday. “It was a cold, calculated hatred that had been percolating for months.”
Roof confessed on video to killing nine people during a Bible study at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015. One of the three survivors testified on Wednesday that he said he let her live to tell the story of what he had done.
The case is expected to go to the jury later on Thursday after six days of testimony.
When Roof’s defense team speaks, it could be the last time they address jurors in Charleston. The 22-year-old has indicated he wants to serve as his own lawyer during the penalty phase of his trial, in which prosecutors plan to seek a death sentence.
Prosecutors contended during opening statements last week that Roof felt compelled to kill innocent churchgoers as retribution for perceived offenses against his race.
The federal government’s case against Roof detailed scouting visits to Charleston before the attack and his purchase of a gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Jurors watched video Roof made of himself at target practice in his mother’s backyard with a laser sight mounted on a pistol and reviewed his journal and online manifesto in which he railed against blacks and Jews and promoted his ideology of white superiority.
Roof’s lawyers rested their case on Wednesday without calling any witnesses. They were unable to convince the trial judge to allow them to present evidence during the guilt phase of the trial about Roof’s state of mind.
In his opening statement, defense attorney David Bruck asked jurors to consider what factors drove Roof to commit an act that made no sense.
“Hatred had no place in that sanctuary, and hatred had no place at those Bible study tables,” prosecutor Nathan Williams said on Thursday. “It was a cold, calculated hatred that had been percolating for months.”
Roof confessed on video to killing nine people during a Bible study at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015. One of the three survivors testified on Wednesday that he said he let her live to tell the story of what he had done.
The case is expected to go to the jury later on Thursday after six days of testimony.
When Roof’s defense team speaks, it could be the last time they address jurors in Charleston. The 22-year-old has indicated he wants to serve as his own lawyer during the penalty phase of his trial, in which prosecutors plan to seek a death sentence.
Prosecutors contended during opening statements last week that Roof felt compelled to kill innocent churchgoers as retribution for perceived offenses against his race.
The federal government’s case against Roof detailed scouting visits to Charleston before the attack and his purchase of a gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Jurors watched video Roof made of himself at target practice in his mother’s backyard with a laser sight mounted on a pistol and reviewed his journal and online manifesto in which he railed against blacks and Jews and promoted his ideology of white superiority.
Roof’s lawyers rested their case on Wednesday without calling any witnesses. They were unable to convince the trial judge to allow them to present evidence during the guilt phase of the trial about Roof’s state of mind.
In his opening statement, defense attorney David Bruck asked jurors to consider what factors drove Roof to commit an act that made no sense.
