The man accused of killing nine people in a historic black church in Charleston last month pleaded not guilty to federal hate crimes charges on Friday.
Attorneys for Dylann Roof, 21, said he had wanted to enter a guilty plea for all counts but could not because the government has not decided if it will pursue the death penalty in the case.
Roof, who is white, is charged with opening fire on a Bible study class after sitting with them for about an hour at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on 17 June. He was arrested the next day in North Carolina.
He appeared in the courtroom on Friday, wearing a gray striped prison jumpsuit. He did not speak beyond answering “Yes” to the judge’s questions. Roof is being represented by two famous death penalty attorneys, David Bruck and Michael O’Connell.
Earlier this month, Roof was indicted on 33 federal charges, including several hate crimes charges, for what US attorney general Loretta Lynch said was a months-long plot to kill black parishioners.
“Racially motivated violence such as this is the original domestic terrorism,” Lynch said when announcing the charges.
Roof also faces nine counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and a weapons charge in Charleston County. South Carolina is one of five states that does not have hate crime laws, so he is only facing those charges at the federal level.
On Friday, family members of the nine people who were killed in the attack spoke briefly in the courtroom. Two days after the shooting in June, relatives of the victims confronted Roof through a live video feed at his bond hearing. Roof stood still as the family members forgave him.
The family of one of the victims, state senator Clementa Pinckney, on Thursday announced the creation of a foundation in his honor. It was launched on what would have been Pinckney’s 42nd birthday and will support religious, educational and charitable causes.
