CHARLESTON, S.C. _ Three days after accused Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof was found mentally fit to stand trial, he will be his own lawyer in the trial where the federal government is seeking the death penalty.
Roof's surprise request to act as his own attorney _ made Sunday night and approved Monday morning by U.S. Judge Richard Gergel _ means Roof could play a role in questioning witnesses, including survivors of the June 2015 slayings of nine African-Americans who were at a Bible study when a man, after praying with them, pulled out a Glock and opened fire.
Jury qualification began Monday. By the time court adjourned around 3:15 p.m., seven out of 20 prospective jurors _ all white _ had been found qualified to sit as jurors. Six were women; one was a man.
At this pace, it could take several weeks to select a pool of 70 potential jurors, from which a final jury of 12 and six alternates will be chosen. The full jury pool includes 500 people.
The lone African-American of Monday's 20 potential jurors was disqualified Monday by Gergel over the objections of assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson after Roof, in perhaps his longest statement of the day, rose energetically from his chair and the 22-year-old said, "I have no additional questions, but at this point, I think he should be disqualified."
Like several other potential white jurors, the African-American man told the court he would be in favor of imposing the death penalty in all circumstances where multiple victims had been slain. However, Roof did not object in such an energetic fashion as with the white jurors.
Richardson objected strenuously to so quickly denying a place on the jury for the African-American. The prosecutor told Gergel he had important follow-up questions that might show the juror, in some cases, might be able to consider life in prison without parole.
But Gergel refused to allow more questioning, telling Richardson, "If someone tells me an answer like that, I don't put him on the jury."
Under the law in death cases, a potential juror has to be able to keep an open mind about being able to consider either the death penalty or life without parole.
Potential jurors are being questioned one at a time, out of the presence of other jurors. To protect their privacy, only their juror numbers are used to identify them. No media cameras are permitted in the courthouse.
Most jurors were disqualified Monday morning because they either expressed a strong reluctance to consider either a death or life sentence as possible punishments for Roof. Gergel told prospective jurors that their decision in the sentencing phase will be final, and all jury candidates appeared serious, even anguished, in their answers.
During the morning session, Roof spoke often but not at length, mostly confining his statements to "yes" or "no" in response to questions from Gergel about whether he objected or not to a potential juror.
Under the law, Gergel has to grant a request by a defendant to represent himself in a death penalty trial if the defendant is mentally competent and refuses his court-appointed attorneys _ who include David Bruck and other accomplished anti-death-penalty lawyers. Though Roof will represent himself, his legal team, including Bruck, will sit at or near the defense table as "stand-by counsel" to assist him, Gergel said.
"Let me say, Mr. Roof, for whatever it's worth, I think it is wise for you to be represented by counsel," Gergel said. "You understand that your defense may be less than it would have been."
"Yes," Roof replied in a hoarse voice.
Roof dropped out of school but later got a graduate equivalent degree, according to earlier evidence in the case. Bruck is Harvard-educated. He and his legal team have handled hundreds of death penalty cases, often winning life sentences or getting cases overturned on appeal.
Jury selection was supposed to start Nov. 7, but at the last minute, Roof's legal team raised questions about his mental fitness. Gergel ordered Roof examined by a psychiatrist, who subsequently found him fit to stand trial.
In a filing unsealed Monday, government prosecutor Richardson did not contest Roof's decision to represent himself. But Richardson asked Gergel to make sure Roof's choice was "knowing, willing and voluntary," as required by law.
Roof is charged with killing black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015. The federal indictment charges that Roof carried out the shootings with the intent of inciting racial tensions across the nation. Some of the offenses Roof is charged with are hate crimes, which make his charges eligible for the death penalty under federal law.
As jury qualification began Monday, Roof, of the Columbia area, wore a gray-striped jail jumpsuit and white tennis shoes. Normally, criminal defendants _ even those who, like Roof, are in jail _ dress in civilian clothes during their trials.
Roof's allowing prospective jurors to see him in jail clothes could signal that he does not plan to contest his guilt in the trial. For months, Roof's lawyers have said in court he will plead guilty in exchange for being allowed to serve life in prison without chance of parole.
Two disqualified jurors, who told the judge they were Catholics, told Gergel their religion, which opposes capital punishment, would substantially impair their ability to consider giving Roof the death penalty.
"I'm Catholic, and I'm not sure I could decide on the death penalty," a woman in her 40s said.
Other disqualified jurors didn't cite religious objections but acknowledged they would have a major moral problem handing down a death sentence.
One juror told Gergel she could "put Hitler to death," but she appeared so hesitant to consider the death penalty in other cases that Gergel disqualified her. "We don't have a Hitler here," the judge said.
One juror was questioned intensely about a bumper sticker on one his family cars. It read, "Charleston Stands Together" _ a slogan adopted after the church killings. He was finally disqualified after he indicated he would give the death penalty for killings carried out in a church. Several other jurors who found church killings especially deserving of the death penalty also were disqualified.
At one point during the afternoon's proceedings, a juror said she had back problems. Gergel told her the trial might last two months. Would her ailing back pose too much of a problem? No, she said.
