Federal grand jury indicts Roof on hate crimes; feds exploring death penalty

A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Dylann Roof for hate crimes in the June killings of nine African-Americans at a Charleston church, according to an indictment just made public.

The 33-count indictment issued charges Roof, 21, a white man from the Columbia area, with 12 counts of committing a federal hate crime (nine counts of murder and three attempted murders) against black victims, 12 counts of obstructing the exercise of religion resulting in death and nine counts of the use of a firearm to commit murder.

Most of the crimes are eligible for the death penalty, which is seldom sought by federal prosecutors. Prosecutors have not yet made a decision in this case. Roof would be first in South Carolina to be considered for a hate crime-related death penalty.

The indictment says Roof killed eight parishioners and their pastor with a Glock .45 during a church prayer meeting and, in a new release of information, said he came to the meeting with eight magazines loaded with hollow-point bullets.

Roof sat next to the church’s pastor and state Sen. Clementa Pinckney at the historic “Mother” Emanuel AME Church before opening fire, killing him and eight others, the indictment says.

The indictment also cites racist statements, racist slurs and Confederate flag and other photographs of and by Roof published on an Internet site shortly before the June 17 killings.

“In the months before June 17... Roof decided to attack African-Americans because of their race,” the 15-page indictment says. “He further decided to attack African-American worshipers in an African-American church in order to make his attack more notorious.”

The indictment continues: “He selected Emanuel AME Church because it had a predominately African-American membership, and because it was significant to the people of Charleston, of South Carolina, and of the Nation.” It also says Roof’s motive was “to increase racial tensions across the Nation.”

In Washington, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch noted that the state of South Carolina is already prosecuting Roof on murder charges but said, “It is important to note ... that South Carolina does not have a hate crimes statute and as a result, the state charges do not reflect the alleged hate crime offenses presented in the federal indictment returned today.”

Hate crimes under federal law are crimes committed against someone because of their race, color, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Some 45 states have state hate crime laws.

Lynch said the U.S. Justice Department is now exploring whether to seek the death penalty against Roof.

Although Lynch did not specify exactly which crimes Roof is charged with make him death penalty eligible, various federal statutes cited in Wednesday’s indictment make Roof death penalty eligible under provisions concerning killing people in church, using a firearm to kill, killing vulnerable elderly (three of the dead were 70 or older) and by implication, using a firearm to commit a hate crime in a church where multiple worshipers were killed.

A federal judge in Roof’s case had not been named by late Wednesday. But sources familiar with the case said a likely candidate is Judge Richard Gergel, a Columbia native who holds court in Charleston.

Evidence concerning a racial motive by Roof in the case surfaced several days after the killings, when a racist manifesto and photos of Roof with a gun and Confederate flags surfaced on a website Roof allegedly created.

The indictment asserts that Roof created the website and wrote the manifesto, in which Roof indicated he would go to Charleston in hopes of igniting a race war.

Roof is believed to be a self-educated, self-radicalized white supremacist who bounced between public schools in Richland and Lexington counties before and used the internet to stock his resentment toward black people. He dropped out of school around the 9th grade, but one of his lawyers said he has a high-school equivalency degree.

Since the June killings, far from triggering a race war that Roof allegedly sought, the shootings have led to the taking down of the Confederate flag at the S.C. State House and new conversations about race in the state and across the nation.

President Barack Obama came to South Carolina to speak at Pinckney’s funeral. The Emanuel church has become a shrine of sorts, visited by hundreds each week, and bedecked with flowers and American flags. At that funeral, Obama spoke of the church being the central religious and community “heart” of the black community and, as such, a target of those who wish to control African-Americans – a theme that found resonance in Wednesday’s indictment.

The federal indictment issued Wednesday names each of the victims: Pinckney, 41; Cynthia Hurd, 54; Susie Jackson, 87; the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; Ethel Lee Lance, 70; the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49; Tywanza Sanders, 26; the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; and Myra Thompson, 59.

It also names two of the survivors and refers to a surviving minor identified only by the initials K.M., “an 11-year-old African-American girl.” The named survivors are Felicia Sanders, 58; and Polly Shepard, 70.

S.C. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson of Charleston County earlier won indictments from a Charleston County grand jury for nine counts of murder against Roof. She is considering separately from federal prosecutors whether to seek a death penalty.

Bill Nettles, U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, said Wednesday that his office and Wilson’s are cooperating but no decision has been made on which office will try Roof first. “That decision will be made in the future and be dictated by each individual office’s preparedness and their respective courts,” Nettles said.

Under state law, a solicitor like Wilson unilaterally decides whether to bring death penalty charges.

Under the federal system, the Justice Department conducts a review process that can be lengthy.

Although Roof has not yet been indicted on federal charges, Assistant U.S. Public Defenders Ann Walsh of Charleston and Bill F. Nettles IV of Florence have been assigned to defend Roof. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nathan Williams of Charleston and Julius Richardson of Columbia are expected to prosecute Roof.

In his 2,000-plus word manifesto, Roof wrote, “I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”

Roof also told how he believed African-Americans are inferior to whites, how they were happy when they lived under slavery and how whites need to take the country back. Blacks are “the biggest problem of America,” he writes.

Roof also targets Jews and Hispanics, writing of Hispanics that even though many are white, “They are still our enemies.” Of Jews, Roof writes they are responsible for “agitation of the black race.”

As for patriotism, Roof writes, “I hate the sight of the American flag.”

In a related development Wednesday, relatives of the victims filed motions n state court asking Judge J.C. Nicholson to keep in place a sweeping gag order that is preventing the release of routine criminal information in the case.

Attorneys representing The State, The Associated Press and other media organizations are seeking the release of the documents. The State has asked for copies of the audio of 911 calls and results of what was seized during searches of his residences. A hearing will be scheduled.

Federal prosecutors also said they do not want the information to be released.

This story was originally published July 22, 2015 at 11:33 AM with the headline "Federal grand jury indicts Roof on hate crimes; feds exploring death penalty."