{"id":18849,"date":"2017-01-06T07:59:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T07:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=18849"},"modified":"2017-01-06T07:59:01","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T07:59:01","slug":"no-regrets-dylann-roof-jailhouse-manifesto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/no-regrets-dylann-roof-jailhouse-manifesto.html","title":{"rendered":"No Regrets From Dylann Roof in Jailhouse Manifesto"},"content":{"rendered":"
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No Regrets From Dylann Roof in Jailhouse Manifesto<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

More than six weeks after killing nine members of a black congregation here in 2015, Dylann S. Roof wrote extensively in a journal about his purpose, emphasizing that he hoped to incite others to join him in fomenting a race war.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI did what I thought would make the biggest wave,\u201d the then 21-year-old white supremacist wrote, \u201cand now the fate of our race is in the hands of my brothers who continue to live freely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Page after page from the journal was read aloud on Thursday afternoon in Federal District Court here, where jurors will decide, perhaps as early as next week, whether to sentence Mr. Roof to death. The journal provided a startling extension of the manifestoes Mr. Roof wrote before he opened fire in the fellowship hall of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seemingly aware that he faced the likelihood of at least a life term in prison, Mr. Roof wrote that he \u201cwould rather live in prison knowing I took action for my race than live with the torture of sitting idle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Roof\u2019s choice to represent himself in the penalty phase of his trial, and to reject a defense based on mental incapacity, has raised questions about his desire to avoid execution. But in the aftermath of the attack, at least, he saw a continued purpose for his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to live now,\u201d he wrote in the journal, most of which was read from the witness stand by a Charleston County Sheriff\u2019s Office official, Lauren M. Knapp. \u201cI want to see a future. I want to help make the way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He began by explaining that he wanted to complete the rambling racist thoughts included in an online manifesto that he began before the massacre, which he said he \u201cwas unable to finish before because I was in a hurry to get to Charleston.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a dizzying blitz of insults and stereotypes, predictions and perceived problems, Mr. Roof railed against Jews, Hispanics, African-Americans, gays and Muslims. He said that Adolf Hitler would someday \u201cbe inducted as a saint,\u201d and he warned that unless white people \u201ctake violent action, we have no future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Prosecutors used the writings, which were confiscated by jail officials on Aug. 3, 2015, to bolster their contention that he had opened fire with \u201csubstantial planning and premeditation,\u201d which the authorities argue is an aggravating factor in Mr. Roof\u2019s capital case.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reading of Mr. Roof\u2019s journal and Ms. Knapp\u2019s accompanying testimony took less than an hour on a day that was otherwise focused on four of the shooting\u2019s victims: the Rev. DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49; the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; the Rev. Daniel Lee Simmons Sr., 74; and Myra Thompson, 59.<\/span><\/p>\n

Family members and friends of the dead repeatedly walked to the witness stand and recounted anecdotes of vacations and holiday meals, final conversations and funerals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDePayne was a stickler for the truth, and she was a stickler for rules and order,\u201d said Bethane Middleton-Brown, a sister of Ms. Middleton Doctor. \u201cShe governed her life according to the word.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Roof and his court-appointed lawyers have grown frustrated with the hours of testimony about the victims of the shootings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I don\u2019t present any mitigation evidence, the victim-impact evidence will take over the whole sentencing trial and guarantee that I get the death penalty,\u201d Mr. Roof wrote in a motion that was unsealed on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of Mr. Roof\u2019s lawyers, David I. Bruck, argued that some witness testimony had been improper for the trials\u2019 sentencing phase. \u201cThis is sentencing,\u201d Mr. Bruck told Judge Richard M. Gergel on Thursday morning. \u201cIt is not a memorial service.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Judge Gergel rejected Mr. Bruck\u2019s request that he be allowed to object to testimony, he cautioned prosecutors against calling an excessive number of witnesses. Julius N. Richardson, a prosecutor, said that the government expected to rest its case on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/01\/05\/us\/no-regrets-from-dylann-roof-in-jailhouse-manifesto.html<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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