Convicted Charleston church shooter wants new penalty phase trial

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The man convicted and sentenced in the 2015 deaths of nine people at Mother Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston is making a bid to avoid the death penalty.

Dylann Roof’s defense team filed a document more than 300 pages long that claims he believes his original lawyers were dishonest with him and the federal judge overseeing the case, Richard Gergel, was biased against him.

The new motion claims his conviction and the death sentence handed down in the June 17, 2015, massacre were the result of “a trial based on errors, oversights, and misstatements of facts.”

Roof does not dispute that he killed the nine people, including the church’s senior pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, and eight others at the end of a Wednesday night Bible study.

But he claims he deserves a new penalty phase trial because some jurors gave disqualifying answers about their views on the death penalty but were still allowed to proceed through the process.

The documents also claim Roof’s trial counsel ignored expert advice on mental illness and didn’t make sure he was present at five court proceedings prior to the trial.

Gergel has already responded in a court order about claims against him. Roof claims a district judge “steered” the case to Gergel because Gergel wanted to preside over it.

Gergel said in the filing that Roof’s motion to recuse has already been dealt with and there is no reason for it to be reconsidered.

He also denied a motion for an out-of-state judge to hear the case.

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