A South Carolina judge is being asked to delay the state death penalty trial of Dylan Roof, who is charged with gunning down nine black parishioners during a Bible study inside a Charleston church last year.
In court petitions filed last Thursday, defense attorneys argue that starting the trial as scheduled on July 11 won't give them enough time to prepare and further investigate the incident, thus rendering them incapable of mounting an adequate defense for Roof, who's charged with nine counts of murder following the shooting.
The July 11 court date was set by Circuit Judge J.C. Nicholson last summer on July 16, giving both the defense and prosecution just less than a year to prepare. He will be hold a hearing later Wednesday on the request to delay.
A pool of 600 potential jurors has been asked to report to court on June 28. After the initial weeding-out process, lawyers are expected to pose questions to potential jurors by July 11 - a task that the defense argues when combined with everything else on their plate hardly leaves them with enough time to prepare for a proper defense for their client.
To begin selecting a jury in that time frame "while substantial investigation and preparation remains to be done in a case that is neither factually nor legally straightforward would deny the defendant the basic tools for an adequate defense," said the motion signed by Public Defender Ashley Pennington and Roof's other attorney, William McGuire.
The July 17, 2015 shootings have been high profile from the get-go. As more details about the incident became known, the more clear (in public opinion, at least) that the shooting was racially motivated and not a matter of coincidence. Investigators noted that not only did the shooting occur at the Emanuel AME Church (a historically black church), but also a manifesto written by Roof explained that he had "no choice" but to target African-Americans, whom he derided as "stupid and violent," leaving authorities little choice but to classify the shooting as a hate crime.
In light of this evidence, and more that followed, Roof faces multiple charges, including nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. He also faces other charges like hate crimes in federal court, though prosecutors have yet to determine whether they will seek the death penalty in that case, and no trial date has been set.
