CHARLESTON, S.C. _ A jury Thursday was debating the guilt of accused Emanuel AME Church shooter Dylann Roof on federal murder and hate crimes charges.
Roof, 22, of Columbia, is charged with nine counts of committing a hate crime for killing nine parishioners during a Bible study at the Charleston church in June 2015 simply because of the color of their skin.
"After he killed (the Rev.) Clementa Pinckney, he did not stop. He embraced that hatred, and he executed eight more people," federal prosecutor Stephen Curran told jurors during closing arguments Thursday morning.
"When you see those lists of churches, that tells you the depth, the vastness of his hatred," he said.
Roof, too, is charged with discharging a gun while committing a crime. And he is charged with obstruction of the exercise of religion, because he killed "people as they were praying," Curran said.
The killings shook South Carolina and the nation because they happened in a church, because Roof's white supremacist motivations were so blatant and because survivors were so quick to express forgiveness.
"These nine people exemplified a goodness that was greater than this message of hate," Curran told jurors, urging them to find Roof guilty.
Roof's defense attorney, David Bruck, put up no witnesses Wednesday and has admitted Roof's guilt to jurors. But he has been trying to make Roof seems confused or delusional rather than rational.
During his closing arguments, Bruck said Roof acted alone, without encouragement from a best friend or family members. Roof's motivation came from things he saw on the Internet. And that he originally planned to kill himself after killing others showed he thought he was in a war that required those sacrifices, Bruck said.
Don't give Roof too much credit, Bruck told jurors. "Everything he is doing is just an imitation from something he has learned from somewhere else."
Bruck said "Roof never gave an explanation for his actions except 'he had to do it.' But never gave an answer to 'why.'"
The prosecutor rebutted Bruck's arguments, saying Roof explained many times why he did it: He hated. And Roof was not delusional, Curran said, as proved by his two-hour-long confession.
"Don't be distracted by the defense ... suggesting that there's some deeper meaning. He told you why," Curran said.
As he has throughout the trial, Roof sat motionless during closing arguments and as U.S. Judge Richard Gergel gave instructions to the jury on Roof's 33 criminal counts.
As the 12 jurors were separated from the six alternates, the public got to see for the first time who the 12 were, as all 18 had been sitting together and the alternates were never identified.
The jury is comprised of eight white women, two black women, one black male and one white male. The alternates will not deliberate with the jury.
Thursday was the last time the jury will hear from Bruck. Roof plans to represent himself during the penalty phase of the trial, should the jury find him guilty.
