CHARLESTON, S.C. _ Dylann Roof's writings revealed on Thursday horrific new depths to his white supremacy fixations, violent tendencies and hatred of Jews, blacks, gays, Muslims and Hispanics.
"I believe one day that Adolph Hitler will be inducted as a saint," Roof wrote in new excerpts disclosed from a pocket-sized diary he kept in his single-inmate cell at the Charleston County jail after his arrest in June 2015.
Hitler, who orchestrated the murder of 6 million Jews during the World War II's Holocaust, will be an "icon," Roof wrote in the journal that was read to jurors who will decide whether he is executed or serves the rest of his life in prison. Deliberations could start as early as Tuesday.
Roof wrote that he hoped for a race war that would result in a "white Utopia" in America. He predicted he ultimately would be pardoned for the mass shooting at an historic black church here.
In the second day of the sentencing phase of his trial, Roof also expressed admiration for white Russians. He praised their "white nationalist movement" and criticized America's media with its "far left agenda."
The journal also contained white supremacy emblems _ a cross with a circle where the lines intersect _ and a drawing of ghostly figures with a cross, an apparent depiction of the Ku Klux Klan.
In December, the same jury decided within two hours that Roof is guilty of race- and religious-related hate crimes in the June 2015 execution-style shootings of nine African-Americans, including four pastors, at Charleston's historic Emanuel AME church.
A day after the killings, Roof was arrested, gave a two-hour video confession to FBI agents and was taken back to Charleston, where he wrote his jailhouse diary.
Although Roof's previously known writing, a manifesto he published on the internet the day of the killings, revealed his violent and racist tendencies, his Hitler worship and other beliefs were new. They include:
_ Most whites are "pathetic cowards" because they are not interested in starting a race war. "I would rather live in prison knowing I took action for my race than to live with the torture of sitting still ... I did all I could and now the fate of my race is in the hands of my brothers."
_ Do whites have to accept "we will always have a sizable Hispanic population? Absolutely not ... in the event of a race war, we would have Hispanics that would align with the blacks."
_ "The Jews are indeed our enemy."
_ Japan and Korea have single-race cultures that America would do well to emulate.
_ Homosexuality "is nothing more than a sick fetish ... at the very least homosexuality should be considered a mental illness."
_ Muslims have a "toxic religion."
Roof's journal was admitted as evidence late Thursday afternoon over his objections.
Jailers found it in his cell after a search for materials that he might use in a suicide attempt. Judge Richard Gergel ruled that inmates have no legal expectation of privacy.
Earlier in the day, Gergel denied a motion by Roof to limit testimony by victims' relatives. More than half a dozen friends and relatives of the people killed at the church have given accounts that caused numerous people in the courtroom to wipe away tears.
Roof's standby attorney, David Bruck, characterized the excessive testimony as a "runaway freight train" that was violating Roof's right to a fair trial. "This is his sentencing. It is not a memorial service," Bruck told Gergel. The judge did not agree.
In a related development Thursday, a state judge has delayed the start of Roof's state trial indefinitely.
Judge J.C. Nicholson ordered the rescheduling from the Jan. 17 date that had been set in Charleston County. The postponement is "to allow time to conduct the evaluation and prepare for the trial," Nicholson wrote.
