Standard News

Hide Advertisement
  • Business
  • Culture
  • News
  • Technology
  • Trending
Site logo
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Dylann Roof wrote white supremacist manifestos: prosecutors

August 22, 2016 | By Reuters
Charleston County Sheriff's Office handout booking photo of Dylann Roof

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – Investigators found two handwritten manifestos espousing white supremacy in the car and jail cell of a white man accused of killing nine black parishioners at a Charleston, South Carolina, church last year, according to a court document filed on Monday.

Advertisement

Investigators also found handwritten letters and a list of churches among the papers belonging to accused killer Dylann Roof, who faces trial on 33 federal crimes including hate crimes, obstruction of religious practice and firearms charges.

Roof has offered to plead guilty if prosecutors agree to drop the death penalty, his defense attorney has said. But prosecutors have so far refused to make a plea deal over the June 2015 slaying of nine Bible study members at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The shootings shook the country and intensified debate over U.S. race relations, already roiled at the time by high-profile police killings of unarmed black people.

Much of the evidence against Roof has been sealed but the latest details were disclosed in a court filing by prosecutors listing the expert witnesses they plan to call at the trial, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 7.

Roof also faces the death penalty on murder charges in state court trial scheduled for next year.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said Roof wrote an online racist manifesto in the weeks before the shootings. The writings referred to on Monday would be the first physical documents to be used against Roof.

Prosecutors plan to call a handwriting expert to testify that the manifestos match Roof’s penmanship.

They will also summon at least one expert on white supremacy who will testify that Roof’s “statements, writings, travel, personal interests and dress are consistent with the adoption of white supremacist beliefs … including a belief in the need to use violence to achieve white supremacy,” the court documents said.

The prosecution experts, identified as Eric Sorensen and Jacquelyn Hamelryck, will testify that white supremacists believe people generally fit into the categories of white and non-white.

“Whites are defined as non-Jewish people of European descent, and ‘non-whites’ are everyone else,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Roof became radicalized online on his own rather than from associating with white supremacist groups.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Peter Cooney)

tagreuters.com2016binary_LYNXNPEC7L1C0-VIEWIMAGE

← Previous Post Next Post →
Advertisement - Continue reading below
Share  On Facebook

The American Legion Slams White House VA Budget

Flirty designs at Kors, nature an inspiration for Marchesa at New York shows

Meg Ryan uses ‘fierce’ maternal instincts in her directorial debut

Actor Tom Sizemore arrested on domestic violence charge: Los Angeles police

Lockheed wins $10 billion U.S. defense contract: Pentagon

Renee Zellweger slams media speculation about plastic surgery

This is the Only Shop of its Kind in the USA

Buffett says anonymous woman wins $3.46 million charity auction for lunch

Report: 375 Million Current Jobs May Be Automated as Soon as 2030

Minnesota prosecutor adds special attorney to team in black man’s shooting

load more Loading posts...

sidebar

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

sidebar-alt

  • About Us
  • Imprint
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy