The deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union is urging the Justice Department to accept the Charleston church shooter’s offer to plead guilty to federal hate crimes.
The statement from the ACLU’s Jeffrey Robinson on Wednesday came after the delay in Dylann Roof’s trial pending his competency evaluation. The delay, Robinson says, gives the Justice Department a chance to accept Roof’s offer to plea guilty.
Roof had originally offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but federal prosecutors rejected that offer and said they would still seek the death penalty.
Roof, now 22, is the perpetrator of the June 17, 2015, shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church that left nine black parishioners dead.
“If the Department continues its pursuit of the death penalty, we will not see an end to Roof’s case, not for months or even years,” Robinson said. “And if a conviction and sentence come at last, they won’t be final, giving way to appeals for the foreseeable future.”
Jury selection was set to resume Wednesday morning, but it is now suspended until Nov. 21.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced in May that prosecutors would pursue a death sentence in Roof’s case. In total, Roof faces 33 federal charges, including violations of hate crime laws and religious freedoms.
Against the state of South Carolina, Roof faces nine counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
