The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
December 16, 2016

South Carolina: Dylann Roof Guilty on 33 Counts of Federal Hate Crimes
----------------------------------------------------------------------

In Charleston, South Carolina, a jury has found Dylann Roof guilty on 33
counts of federal hate crimes for murdering nine black worshipers,
including Pastor Clementa Pinckney, at the historic Emanuel AME Church
in June 2015. The verdict, reached after the jury deliberated for less
than two hours, came after 30 witnesses testified over six days. One of
the witnesses was Felicia Sanders, who said she watched as Roof pulled
out a Glock .45-caliber handgun and began shooting, striking and
wounding her son and killing her aunt. She says she took cover
underneath a table with her 11-year-old granddaughter and tried to cover
herself and the girl in other people's blood so Roof would think they
were already dead. Roof embraced white supremacist views and was shown
in photographs posing with the Confederate flag and a pistol. Roof is
facing the death penalty. His sentence will be decided in the penalty
phase of the trial, slated to begin January 3.


.