Dylann Roof was sentenced to death on Tuesday, January 10, nearly 19 months after he killed nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Watch the announcement of his sentencing in the video above.
CNN reports that a jury of 10 women and two men recommended the avowed white supremacist was guilty of all 33 federal charges he faced, including 18 charges that carried a possible death sentence, after a three-hour deliberation on Tuesday morning. Judge Richard Gergel will formally sentence Roof on Wednesday, January 11, at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Before the jury made their decision, 22-year-old Roof — who represented himself during the penalty phase — told the court in his closing argument he still feels that he “had to” kill the group of Bible-study attendees at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015.
“In my confession to the FBI I told them that I had to do it, and obviously that’s not really true. … I didn’t have to do anything,” Roof said, per CNN. “But what I meant when I said that was, I felt like I had to do it, and I still do feel like I had to do it.”
Still, he suggested to the jury that he would like to receive a life sentence instead of the death penalty. “From what I’ve been told, I have a right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I’m not sure what good that will do anyway,” Roof said. “But what I will say is only one of you has to disagree with the other jurors.”
According to CNN, his five-minute closing argument came immediately after a prosecutor urged jurors to sentence Roof — who was convicted last month with federal murder and hate crimes charges — to death instead of a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
