Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof pleads not guilty to 33 federal hate crimes

Home Top

Overweight woman-turned-fitness guru drops 75lbs and slims down to a size ZERO after being left heartbroken by a friend
Wrestling legend and WWE star 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper dies aged 61 after suffering cardiac arrest in his sleep
The curse of the 'cool kids': Children who are popular at school become losers later in life, claims study
Star polo player, 31, and three horses killed in three-car pile-up in Ohio as his girlfriend looked on in horror from the car behind
Osama Bin Laden's 'stepmother and sister among four killed' after their private jet crashes into a UK car auction when it overshot the runway as it tried to land
Yazidi boy, four, is forced to join ISIS terror camp to learn Sharia Law, the Koran and given sword to behead his own MOTHER
Pictured: The new Taliban leader after Afghanistan revealed former commander Mullah Omar died from an 'unspecified illness' two years ago
Coast Guard suspends search for two fourteen-year-old boys who went missing during unaccompanied fishing trip seven days ago
Revenge of the bulletproof armadillo: Texas man shot after bullet he fired at animal ricocheted off its shell and hit him
EXCLUSIVE: American marketing executive, 39, was on a luxury vacation with her boyfriend in Cape Town when he 'murdered her in a drug-fueled sex session' with a pound of cocaine in their hotel room
Virginia can BAN Confederate flag license plates, says federal judge
'Sin will not win': Survivors and relatives of victims of Charleston church shooting speak face-to-face with alleged gunman Dylann Roof for the first time as he pleads not guilty to 33 federal hate crime charges
New video reveals how campus cop accused of killing unarmed Samuel DuBose was involved in another heated and aggressive traffic stop in 2014
A tale of two coasts: Stunning Nasa satellite animation reveals record rainfall on the east side of the US while the west scorches
'Fat is your friend': Salma Hayek, 48, reveals diet and beauty secrets saying she drinks bone broth to get her protein and collagen
Naomi Campbell found guilty of assault as she's accused of scratching eye of photographer who took pictures of her with then-boyfriend Vladimir Doronin
$?Aside from a few Instagram posts, Taylor Swift's New York City apartment has remained a mystery¿until now. Swift purchased the $20 million Tribeca penthouse in 2014, but Street Easy only just released photos from inside the 8,300 square-foot apartment. The country-inspired 7 bedroom, 5.5 bathroom space boasts wooden floors, wide-beam ceilings and a marble kitchen ideal for baking parties with the girl squad, of course.\nIn homage to her Nashville roots, the 1989 singer's pad has some serious rustic vibes¿bringing the comfort of southern living into the big city. The penthouse's wooden floors and motifs are complemented by rich crimson walls and a cascading staircase that would be equally at home in a Victorian mansion. Plus, a large living room and fireplace area equipped with several couches and a seating space is ideal for all those star-studded parties the singer is known to host. Take a look inside below: \n\nhttp://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/interiors-entertaining/news/a11661$ Come on in! Take a peek inside Taylor Swift's amazing rustic $20 million NYC penthouse
Mark Zuckerberg announces wife Priscilla Chan is pregnant with a baby girl - and that the couple suffered multiple miscarriages trying to have a child
Married drama teacher pleads guilty to rape after admitting she had sex with student, 15, on multiple occasions
'I loved Krissi with all my heart': Nick Gordon begs Bobby Brown for invite to Bobbi Kristina's funeral
Ohio State marching band had book of offensive songs including one that referenced furnaces at Nazi concentration camps and 'cattle trains' used to transport Jews to their deaths
Did Hitler have an atomic weapon? German documentary claims Nazis were developing a 'flying saucer' to deliver bomb and had already started tests on Russian POWs
Two men arrested for shooting and killing four-year-old boy as he played with his stuffed toys on the front lawn
Eight days on from little boys disappearance search continues with $12,500 reward for toddler who went missing with his mother's boyfriend

Roof's lawyer said his client wanted to plead guilty but didn't know if the prosecution will pursue death penalty
A judge entered a ‘temporary’ not guilty plea to 33 hate-crime charges
Survivors of the massacre and victims' relatives attended the hearing and gave emotional statements in the same room as him for the first time
Roof, 31, is also facing nine state murder counts and three attempted murder counts for the shooting at at Emanuel AME church

By Associated Press and Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 11:43 EST, 31 July 2015 | Updated: 16:14 EST, 31 July 2015

View
comments

Dylann Roof, the suspected white supremacist charged in the shooting of nine African Americans at a South Carolina church, entered a ‘temporary’ not guilty plea today to federal hate crime charges.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bristow Marchant accepted the plea after Roof's lawyer David Bruck said he could not advise his client to plead guilty, as the defendant wished to do, until prosecutors declared whether they would seek the death penalty.

More than two dozen relatives of the victims and survivors of last month's massacre at Charleston's historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church packed the courtroom for Roof's arraignment on 33 federal hate crime and firearms charges - facing the alleged gunman for the first time.

Scroll down for video

Family members of victims from the Emanuel AME massacre embrace as they arrive at federal court prior to the arraignment hearing for Dylann Roof today

Not guilty: Dylann Roof, the suspect charged in the shooting of nine African Americans at a South Carolina church, pictured in court July 16, entered a ‘temporary’ not guilty plea to 33 federal hate crime charges

Jerome Smalls holds up slogans outside a federal court building in Charleston, South Carolina, today where Dylann Roof, the alleged shooter involved in the June massacre at Emanuel AME Church was arraigned

Survivors of the massacre, along with relatives and representatives of the victims had a chance to speak - six went forward and made emotional statements, according to The State.

Graycyn Doctor, daughter of the slain the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49, said: 'I would like to let this young man know that though he has taken the most precious thing in my life, he will not take not take my joy.

Doctor deliberately did not look at Roof behind her as she spoke.

'Sin will not win, and I pray the Lord will have mercy on his soul.'

Another, Tyrone Sanders, said: 'I donʼt know what is going to happen to this young man, but for the rest of his life, I want him to hear my thoughts... I am hurting inside. I want him to think about what Iʼm thinking and continue to think about it. That is all I have to say.'

Onlookers at the memorial outside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, today after Roof appeared in court charged with the massacre

Malcolm Graham, a North Carolina State Senator and brother of Cynthia Hurd, one of the victims shot dead, leaves the federal court building today

Abe Makiti (left) signs a memorial in front of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, today

Sanders is related to both victim Tywanza Sanders, 26, and Felicia Sanders, one of three survivors of the shooting.

Roof, 21, is also facing a slew of state charges, including nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Neither federal nor state prosecutors have decided whether they will seek capital punishment if Roof is convicted.

Dylann Roof's attorney David Bruck (pictured left) arrives at the old federal courthouse today with Charleston lawyer Mike O'Connell before Roof's arraignment on federal hate crime charges

Graycyn Doctor, daughter of the slain the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49, pictured in a June 20 photo, told the court today: 'Sin will not win, and I pray the Lord will have mercy on his soul'

Pain: Tyrone Sanders (pictured at one of the funerals) spoke in court yesterday saying: 'I donʼt know what is going to happen to this young man, but for the rest of his life, I want him to hear my thoughts... I am hurting inside'

The federal charges are based on evidence that the 21-year-old suspect targeted the victims ‘because of their race and in order to interfere with their exercise of religion’, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in announcing the indictment.

In the days after the June 17 massacre, a site was discovered online featuring a rambling, racially charged manifesto penned by Roof, in which he shared his thoughts on black people, Jews and Hispanics.

Photographs of the nine victims killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina are held up by congregants during a prayer vigil at the the Metropolitan AME Church on June 19 in Washington, DC

Victims of those killed in the massacre spoke to Roof via video link on June 19, pictured, but today was the first time they spoke in the same room as him

For the rest of his life I want him to hear my thoughts.

Tyrone Sanders

The website also included photos of the 21-year-old holding a Confederate flag and brandishing a .45 caliber Glock.

‘We believe he understands the tremendous crime that he committed and the heinousness of it,’ Eduardo Curry, an attorney representing the African Methodist Episcopal Church, said outside the courtroom, referring to Roof.

Malcolm Graham, brother of shooting victim Cynthia Hurd, told the station WCSC he hopes today's hearing is the first step towards justice.

Appearing in court in a gray striped prison jumpsuit, his hands in shackles, Roof answered 'yes' in a raspy voice several times in response to the judge's questions about his understanding of the charges but otherwise didn't speak.

No future hearings are scheduled in Roof's case, although the judge did tell attorneys they have several weeks to file pre-trial motions.

Charleston shooter Dylann Roof charged with federal hate crimes