CHARLESTON, S.C. _ Dylann Roof was sentenced to death Tuesday for killing nine black-Americans at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church in June 2015, which a federal jury deemed a hate crime.
Judge Richard Gergel announced the jury's decision just before 5 p.m. Roof, who is white, showed no emotion. He did ask for new lawyers to help him file a motion for a retrial. Gergel, however, told Roof he would need to file a motion himself if that was what he wanted.
Deliberations started about three hours earlier Tuesday after an unrepentant Roof told jurors "I still feel that I had to do it."
The same jury last month convicted Roof on 33 charges, nine of them involving hate crimes, for the June 2015 shooting deaths of parishioners because of the color of their skin.
Roof, 22, of Columbia, represented himself in the penalty phase of his hate crimes trial, giving a closing argument that lasted about five minutes. He told jurors they had been misled by prosecutors about his alleged deep hatred of blacks.
He argued that he has never said he hates blacks, but that "I don't like what black people do."
"And anyone, including the prosecution, that thinks that I'm filled with hate has no idea what real hate is," Roof said. "They don't know anything about hate. They don't know what real hatred looks like. They think they do. But they don't, really."
Roof went on to tell the jury that he knew he had the right to ask them to give him a life sentence. But he said, "I'm not sure what good that would do." He reminded the jury, though, that all he needed to get life in prison was for one person to disagree with prosecution's request that he be sentenced to death.
Roof also told the jury had heard himself say in his taped confession to the FBI that he "had to do it." In court on Tuesday, Roof said "that's obviously not true."
"I didn't have to do it," Roof said. "But what I meant when I said that was that I felt that I had to do it. And I still feel that I had to do it."
An hour after the jury's decision was read, the brother of one of the nine slain by Roof stood outside the courthouse before rows of reporters.
"This is a very hollow victory. My sister is still gone," said Melvin Graham of his sister Cynthia Hurd. He spoke somberly and chose his words with care.
"I wish that this verdict could bring her back. But it can't. But what it can do is send a message to those who feel this way that he feels, that this community will not tolerate it."
Graham, of Goose Creek, said the death penalty was appropriate in Roof's case.
"When you look at the totality of what happened, it's hard to say that this person deserves to live, when nine others don't."
"To justify saving one life, when he took nine, in such a brutal fashion, with no remorse. He just took them away from us," Graham said. "He decided the day, the hour and the moment that my sister was going to die. And now someone is going to do the same to him."
Referring to appeals, Graham continued, "But unlike my sister, he has another chance."
His family has been torn apart by the loss of his sister, Graham said, and all of them feel her loss every day.
"It's hard to say you want someone to die, but this case so so obvious, so blatant. This wasn't killing _ it was an execution."
Searching for words to describe what happened, Graham quoted from the Lord's prayer: "Deliver us from evil." When Roof walked in that church, he said, "Evil came."
That case was made by lead prosecuting attorney Jay Richardson during his closing argument, which lasted two hours, before Roof gave his. Richardson went through every horrific detail revealed during the last month of the federal hate crimes trial of Roof.
Richardson noted Roof's extensive planning, his continued lack of remorse and the damage he caused to the family members of the victims he killed. Roof admitted he chose Emanuel AME for his attack because it is the Southeast's oldest black congregation.
"We learned about the defendant's cold and calculated choices that caused those losses to happen," Richardson said. "His racist ideology the acquiring of that ideology, that's part of his preparation that's part of what led him to walk in that door at Mother Emanuel on June 17 (2015)."
Richardson also noted how Roof spent time on racist websites, but also chose to create his own to continue spreading "his message of hate; his message of revenge; his message of agitation."
"He spent years acquiring this deep hatred," Richardson said. "He 'had to do it.' Those are the words of an extraordinary racist."
After highlighting what the loss of every victim meant to their families, Richardson went on to enumerate reasons why Roof's case qualifies for the death penalty. All the while, Roof sat motionless as Richardson listed the reasons why Roof should be put to death.
The jury had to be unanimous in their decision for Roof to be sentenced to death. If they were deadlocked, Roof would have gotten life in prison.
Richardson got a second chance to argue why Roof needs to be sentenced to death, during his counterargument to Roof's closing statement.
Richardson called Roof "unrepentant" and said his closing argument highlighted how Roof's racism is not passionate or angry, but cold and calculated.
"His response is to double down," said Richardson in response to Roof's closing argument. "It's to continue to tell you the same thing. He wants you to believe that you have been misled. That indeed he was justified. That he was justified in committing a modern day lynching.
"Render the full measure of justice for this defendant," Richardson added. "Sentence this defendant to death."
Roof's family, who are from Columbia, sent out a statement after the decision was announced.
"We are Dylann Roof's family," it said. "We will always love Dylann. We will struggle as long as we live to understand why he committed this horrible attack, which caused so much pain to so many good people. We wish to express the grief we feel for the victims of his crimes, and our sympathy to the many families he has hurt. We continue to pray for the Emanuel AME families and the Charleston community."
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement that, "No verdict can bring back the nine we lost that day at Mother Emanuel. And no verdict can heal the wounds of the five church members who survived the attack or the souls of those who lost loved ones to Roof's callous hand. But we hope that the completion of the prosecution provides the people of Charleston � and the people of our nation � with a measure of closure."
Roof's defense team, who had represented him during the guilt phase of the trial but not the punishment phase, said: "We want to express our sympathy to all of the families who were so grievously hurt by Dylann Roof's actions. Today's sentencing decision means that this case will not be over for a very long time. We are sorry that, despite our best efforts, the legal proceedings have shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy."
Dylann Roof's spiritual adviser, Father John Parker of Mount Pleasant, also released a statement. "I denounce Dylann's unspeakable crimes. I pray fervently for the victims, their surviving family and friends, and for the faithful of Mother Emanuel. As an Orthodox Christian, I serve Dylann in imitation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who instructed us to visit the imprisoned and to bless those who curse us."
Roof's official sentencing hearing will take place Wednesday.
