Justice Department to seek death penalty for Dylann Roof

The Justice Department intends to seek the death penalty against Dylann Roof, the man charged with killing nine black parishioners last year in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday.

"The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm compelled this decision," Lynch said in a brief statement that said the department had considered "all relevant factual and legal issues."

Roof is awaiting trial on federal hate crime charges in connection with the June 17 Emanuel AME Church shooting, which contributed to a national conversation about race relations and ultimately led to the removal of a Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse.

Roof is also charged in state court with nine counts of murder, and South Carolina prosecutors have already announced plans to seek the death penalty when he stands trial on those charges next year. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson has said she wants her case to be tried first.

Roof, who is white, appeared in photos waving Confederate flags and burning or desecrating U.S. flags, and purportedly wrote of fomenting racial violence. Survivors told police that he hurled racial insults during the attack. He was arrested a day after the shootings when a motorist spotted his Confederate license plate.

Federal prosecutors charged Roof with hate crimes one month after the shooting, saying he was motivated by racial hatred and a desire to commit a "notorious attack" when he opened fire inside the church.

"To carry out these twin goals of fanning racial flames and exacting revenge, Roof further decided to seek out and murder African-Americans because of their race," Lynch said at the time.

Though the Justice Department says it's committed to seeking the death penalty, federal executions are exceedingly rare. The last time a federal defendant was put to death was in 2003. And President Barack Obama has said he's "deeply concerned" about the death penalty's implementation.

Roof's attorneys in the federal case have said their client would be willing to plead guilty if the death penalty were not on the table. Defense lawyer David Bruck said he had no comment on the federal decision to seek the death penalty.

The only other person charged in connection with the case has already pleaded guilty. Joey Meek, a friend with whom Roof spent time in the days before the shootings, last month admitted to lying to federal authorities. He has agreed to help with the prosecution against Roof.

At Roof's initial appearance before a judge, several relatives of the shooting victims said they forgave the alleged shooter and that they would pray for him. On Tuesday, Malcolm Graham, brother of shooting victim Cynthia Hurd, said federal prosecutors had talked to family members before announcing the decision and that he felt it was "an appropriate punishment."

"What he did that night was kill innocent individuals at a Bible study," Graham said. "Not only was it an attack on those who were there, it was an attack on a race of people."

But since the shooting, the victims' families have preached forgiveness and the rest of the country has offered support.

"The Mother Emanuel Hope Fund has received about $2.8 million in donations from 6,500 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and four foreign nations, Mayor [Joseph] Riley said. The contributions ranged from 50 cents to $100,000," The Monitor's Cathaleen Chen wrote in September. "Riley says $300,000 was initially distributed to pay for funerals and to the church to pay for the needs of the victims in the days immediately following the shootings. Later it was agreed that some funds would be distributed to victims' families and survivors."

And city council member William Dudley Gregorie says the part of the street in front of the church will be renamed the Mother Emanuel Way Memorial District. 

Their lives gave us a "living legacy of forgiveness that will guide not only the Mother Emanuel AME Church but also the citizens of the city, the state of South Carolina and the nation," said Councilman Gregorie.