CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The Latest on the federal death penalty trial of Dylann Roof, accused of killing nine black people during a South Carolina church Bible study (all times local):
4:55 a.m.
The Confederate flag is gone from South Carolina's Statehouse. The bullet holes have been patched in Emanuel AME's fellowship hall. And now Dylann Roof will almost certainly spend the rest of his days in prison for killing nine black worshippers at the Charleston church.
A federal jury convicted Roof on all 33 counts Thursday. Those same jurors will decide in another phase of the trial starting Jan. 3 whether he faces the death penalty or life in prison for hate crimes at a historic African-American church whose founder led a failed slave revolt.
When that testimony starts, Roof will be his own attorney, having again fired defense lawyers who fear Roof is taking over because he doesn't want them to present embarrassing evidence in their efforts to spare his life.
A stunning crime when it happened on June 17, 2015, became more revolting during six days of testimony. Roof fired 77 shots in the fellowship hall. More than 50 hit someone. Each of the nine people killed were struck at least five times. The medical examiner said the angles of some of the bullets seemed to show someone was holding a gun over victims who were lying still with their arms pulled against them. A prosecutor said they were executed like animals.
Roof didn't hesitate to explain his racist beliefs during his confession to FBI agents and left a handwritten journal full of his views, such as blacks being inferior to whites. He also left behind carefully chosen pictures of himself holding the .45-caliber Glock he used in the killings, posing at historic Civil War and African-American sites and holding the Confederate flag.
As the verdict was read, Roof just stared ahead, much as he did the entire trial. Family members of victims held hands and squeezed one another's arms. One woman nodded her head every time the clerk said "guilty."
Roof's lawyers presented no witnesses and tried in vain to introduce evidence that problems with Roof's mental health led to the killings. But U.S. Judge Richard Gergel said that kind of evidence is only permissible in the upcoming penalty phase, when Roof will represent himself.
In his closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams mocked Roof for calling himself brave, saying the real bravery came from the victims who tried to stop him.
"Those people couldn't see the hatred in his heart any more than they could see the .45-caliber handgun and the eight magazines concealed around his waist," Williams said.
Williams' 50-minute closing argument filled the court with tension. At times, the prosecutor raised his voice, saying Roof was a cold, calculated killer. Some family members of victims dabbed their eyes with tissues, and jurors appeared emotional when Williams, after apologizing to them, showed crime scene photos of each person killed alongside a small picture of them while alive.
Those pictures included the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41, Emanuel AME's pastor and a state senator; Myra Thompson, 59, who taught Bible study that night — the same night she was licensed to preach; Cynthia Hurd, 54, a librarian who stayed to support Thompson; Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49, who friends said sang like an angel and was also licensed to preach the day of the shootings; Daniel "Dapper Dan" Simmons, 74, nicknamed for his shiny shoes and fine hats; Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45, a high school track coach heavily involved in the church's youth programs; Ethel Lance, 70, the church sexton who kept the bathrooms and building immaculately clean; Susie Jackson, 87, who sang in the choir and sent generations through the church; and Tywanza Sanders, 26, Jackson's nephew and an aspiring poet who wanted to work with children.
Defense lawyer David Bruck conceded Roof committed the slayings, but he asked jurors to look into his head and see what caused him to become so full of hatred, calling him a suicidal loner who never grasped the gravity of what he did.
Survivor Felicia Sanders has her own theory. She thinks Roof is a coward, too, because he refused to look at her as she testified. She refused to say after the verdicts were read Thursday whether she wants Roof to die for his crimes.
But she left a news conference with reporters smiling. It's her way to honor her nine friends killed in their church.
"I wear a smile, because if you look at the pictures of all nine, they're smiling," Sanders said.
3:55 p.m.
Minutes after Dylann Roof was found guilty of killing nine black people in a hate crime at a Charleston church, he again told a judge he wants to represent himself as prosecutors seek a death sentence.
Roof answered a number of questions from U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel with a simple "yes" Thursday afternoon, moving his high-powered defense team to advisers.
Roof said at the start of the trial that he wanted attorneys in the guilt phase, but not in the penalty phase. His lawyers said in a court filing they fear he wants to avoid embarrassing testimony that the defense might have presented to try to get a jury to spare his life.
The penalty phase starts Jan. 3. Gergel says he will check with Roof one more time before testimony starts.
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3:40 p.m.
A federal jury has convicted Dylann Roof of all 33 counts in the racially motivated slaughter of nine black church members last year in South Carolina.
The jury took less than two hours to reach its verdict Thursday. Family members of victims held hands and squeezed one another's arms as the verdicts were read. One woman nodded her head every time the clerk said "guilty."
Jurors convicted Roof of hate crimes, obstruction of religion and weapons charges.
The panel of nine white people and three black people will reconvene next month to decide whether Roof faces life in prison or the death penalty.
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3:25 p.m.
A federal jury has convicted Dylann Roof in the racially motivated slayings of nine black church members in South Carolina.
The jury reached its verdict after less than two hours of deliberations. They convicted the 22-year-old white man of hate crimes and other charges.
They will reconvene next month to decide whether he should get the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison.
Roof just stared ahead as the verdict was read, much as he has throughout the trial.
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3:15 p.m.
Jurors have reached a verdict in the federal death penalty trial of a man charged with killing nine black parishioners during Bible study at a South Carolina church.
The verdict will be announced soon on the guilt or innocence of 22-year-old Dylann Roof.
The jury of nine white people and three black people deliberated less than two hours before returning a verdict. Roof faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes and obstruction of the practice of religion.
If they find Roof guilty, the same jury will return Jan. 3 to consider if Roof should be sentenced to death for the June 2015 attack at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
He is slated to face another death penalty trial in state court early next year.
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2:40 p.m.
The jury deciding whether Dylann Roof is guilty of killing nine black worshippers at a Charleston church wants to rehear part of his videotaped confession.
The jury sent a note to U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel about an hour into their deliberations asking to listen again to Roof being questioned and talking about how many people he might have killed.
Roof told FBI agents he killed about five people, and was later surprised when the agents told him nine people were shot and killed in June 2015 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church.
Gergel decided to set up the two-hour confession where jurors could watch as much or as little as they wanted to.
The jury is made up of nine whites and three blacks.
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1:15 p.m.
It's now up to jurors to mull the guilt or innocence of a man charged with slaying nine black worshippers during Bible study at a South Carolina church.
Deliberations are getting underway Thursday afternoon in the case of Dylann Roof. He faces 33 federal charges including hate crimes.
Jurors heard from witnesses who testified Roof made multiple trips to Charleston in the months before the June 2015 attack at Emanuel AME Church. They also heard from two survivors. Roof's attorneys called no witnesses.
Prosecutors said in their closing arguments Roof was filled with hate and has already confessed to the FBI to his role in the shootings. Defense attorneys portrayed Roof as a suicidal loner who never fully grasped the severity of what he has done.
The jury's decision must be unanimous. If Roof is convicted, the same panel will reconvene Jan. 3 to begin considering if he should be sentenced to death or life in prison.
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11:35 a.m.
Dylann Roof's lawyer has asked jurors to consider what was going on in his head as he planned the killings of nine black worshippers in a racially motivated attack at a Charleston church.
Defense attorney David Bruck conceded in his closing argument Thursday that Roof killed the victims at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015 and even praised the FBI investigation.
But Bruck also argued Roof was a suicidal, impressionable loner who never grasped the gravity of what he did.
Prosecutors successfully objected to several of Bruck's arguments as he tried to argue Roof's mental status. A judge has ruled that talking about his mental state is reserved for the next phase when jurors — if they find Roof guilty — will decide he if faces the death penalty.
Roof has said he will act as his own attorney during that part of the trial.
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10:50 a.m.
A prosecutor says the goodness of the victims who were slaughtered at a Charleston church has defeated Dylann Roof's message of racial hatred.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams said Thursday in his closing argument that jurors should have no doubt about Roof's guilt. He apologized before showing crime scene photos of the bodies with small pictures of each person when they were alive beside them.
Williams mocked Roof for calling his actions brave, saying the true bravery was in the black churchgoers who died trying to stop him.
Jurors will consider if Roof, who is white, is guilty of 33 charges, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion. He faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.
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10:05 a.m.
Federal prosecutors have started their closing argument in Dylann Roof's death penalty trial by saying the 22-year-old white man targeted nine black church members when they were most vulnerable.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams told jurors Thursday that Roof waited until the Bible study group had its eyes closed for prayer before Roof opened fire.
Williams said he was going to concentrate less on the evidence and more on Roof's hatred, cowardice and immense racial ignorance.
Williams says Roof believed black people were animals and less than human when he violated the sanctuary of the church and killed nine people on June 17, 2015, at Emanuel African Methodist Church.
Roof did not react to Williams' arguments.
Roof's attorneys will have a chance to make a closing argument.
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3 a.m.
Jurors will likely soon be asked to decide if the man accused in the shooting deaths of nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church is guilty of federal hate crimes.
Closing arguments are expected when the jury arrives Thursday morning at Dylann Roof's death penalty trial. The judge will hand jurors the case a short time later.
Jurors will decide if Roof is guilty or not guilty of 33 separate charges, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion charges for each of the nine people killed and three who survived the June 2015 massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston.
If they find Roof guilty, the same jurors will return Jan. 3 for the next phase of the trial to determine if he's sentenced to death or life in prison.