Dylann Roof appeals death sentence in Charleston church slayings

[SummerMadness]

Dylann Roof appeals death sentence in Charleston church slayings

Dylann Roof asked an appeals court Tuesday to overturn his conviction and death sentence for the massacre he carried out at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015.

Roof was the first person sentenced to death for a federal hate crime for killing nine Black parishioners as they prayed during Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Dylann Roof's appeal in his 2015 church massacre conviction focuses on killer's competency to stand trial

Lawyers for the White nationalist who killed nine people at a historically Black churchin Charleston, South Carolina, began making their case Tuesday that his conviction and death sentence can't stand because he was too "disconnected from reality" to represent himself.

That's the chief contention laid out in a sprawling 321-page motion filed last year in the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, attacking numerous elements of the federal trial and conviction stemming from the June 17, 2015, massacre.

Roof's mental state was explored in detail in documents from Roof's competency hearings and videos from three prison visits. According to one transcript, Roof told a psychologist working for his defense team that his death penalty wouldn't be carried out because he'd "be rescued by white nationalists after they took over the government."

Well, some of them were among the crowd that descended on the Capitol on January 6, they tried and failed.

 

[Yttrium]

Disconnected from reality? Is this a lame attempt at an insanity defense? Somehow I'm not persuaded. Instead, I'm persuaded that Roof will continue to be a threat to society in the future, so I have no problem with the death penalty in his case.

 

[Rene Loup]

I am fully supportive of the death penalty being applied to deliberate murder, if 100% proven in court.[1][5][6] Anyone who evil and selfish enough to take another human being's life, should be prepared to lose theirs.

3 “Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants. And now I give you everything for food. 4 But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life. 5 I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person. And I will demand the life of anyone who takes another person’s life.


6 “Whoever kills a human being
will be killed by a human being.
This is because God made humans
in his own image.

7 “Noah, I want you and your family to have many children. Grow in number on the earth and become many.”

~Genesis 9:3-7 (ICB)

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 9 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 9 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 9 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 9 - International Children’s Bible

The Ten Commandments
1 Then God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.

3 “You must not have any other gods except me.

4 “You must not make for yourselves any idols. Don’t make something that looks like anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water below the land. 5 You must not worship or serve any idol. This is because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. A person may sin against me and hate me. I will punish his children, even his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 6 But I will be very kind to thousands who love me and obey my commands.

7 “You must not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly. The Lord will punish anyone who is guilty and misuses his name.

8 “Remember to keep the Sabbath as a holy day. 9 You may work and get everything done during six days each week. 10 But the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God. On that day no one may do any work: not you, your son or daughter, or your men or women slaves. Neither your animals nor the foreigners living in your cities may work. 11 The reason is that in six days the Lord made everything. He made the sky, earth, sea and everything in them. And on the seventh day, he rested. So the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother. Then you will live a long time in the land. The Lord your God is going to give you this land.

13 “You must not murder anyone.

14 “You must not be guilty of adultery.

15 “You must not steal.

16 “You must not tell lies about your neighbor in court.

17 “You must not want to take your neighbor’s house. You must not want his wife or his men or women slaves. You must not want his ox or his donkey. You must not want to take anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

~Exodus 20:1-17 (ICB)

Bible Gateway passage: Exodus 20 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Exodus 20 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Exodus 20 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: Exodus 20 - International Children’s Bible

For the following Bible passage, the context behind, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," is proportionate punishment for the crime, not justification for revenge.[1][2] This was revolutionary for its time, especially when compared to previous code of laws, such as that of Hammurabi.[3][4]

17 “‘If someone kills another person, he must be put to death. 18 Someone might kill an animal that belongs to another person. If he does, he must give that person another animal to take its place. 19 And someone might cause an injury to his neighbor. If he does, the same kind of injury must be given back to him. 20 A broken bone must be paid for a broken bone, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In the same way someone injures another person, he must be injured in return. 21 So anyone who kills another person’s animal must give that person another animal to take its place. But the person who kills another person must be put to death.

~Leviticus 24:17-21 (ICB)

Bible Gateway passage: Leviticus 24 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Leviticus 24 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Leviticus 24 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: Leviticus 24 - International Children’s Bible

1. What Does "An Eye for an Eye" Really Mean? | Reformed Theological Seminary
2. An eye for an eye? The morality of punishment
3. Code of Hammurabi
4. https://thefederalistpapers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Code-of-Hammurabi.pdf
5. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/innocence/description-of-innocence-cases
6. Sentenced to death, but innocent: These are stories of justice gone wrong.

God bless!

 

[Points To Ponder]

We should seek justice not vengeance. I too am in favor of the death penalty but if we are hating on this guy more than we are praying for him we are in conflict with Jesus. If you're lucky you just might bump into him in heaven if he repents. Jesus wants him to repent and have eternal life. Do you?

 

[SummerMadness]

We should seek justice not vengeance. I too am in favor of the death penalty but if we are hating on this guy more than we are praying for him we are in conflict with Jesus. If you're lucky you just might bump into him in heaven if he repents. Jesus wants him to repent and have eternal life. Do you?

I oppose the death penalty, but he is not repentant, so why attack others as if Roof is some sort of saint? He still subscribes to the evil ideology he followed when he murdered 9 Christians in cold blood. Let's not ignore the victims of this crime and pretend as if Roof is not a cold-blooded killer.

 

[Yttrium]

We should seek justice not vengeance. I too am in favor of the death penalty but if we are hating on this guy more than we are praying for him we are in conflict with Jesus. If you're lucky you just might bump into him in heaven if he repents. Jesus wants him to repent and have eternal life. Do you?

I have no interest in vengeance. I'm interested in the protection of society. A murderer who continues to be a threat to society might someday escape from jail and kill more people. I have every reason to suspect that Roof will continue to be a threat to society.

Mind you, I'm not a proponent of the death penalty. In it's current form, it's not cost effective. But I don't have a problem with applying it in certain cases.

 

[Rene Loup]

We should seek justice not vengeance. I too am in favor of the death penalty but if we are hating on this guy more than we are praying for him we are in conflict with Jesus. If you're lucky you just might bump into him in heaven if he repents. Jesus wants him to repent and have eternal life. Do you?

Absolutely! Dylann Roof has free will, and I am assuming American prisons still allow prison chaplains. If Mr. Roof has access to these people and a Bible, then he has the opportunity to repent and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his saviour. Again, he has free will to escape God's judgment, but it will not save him from man's justice.

You are absolutely right about praying for him to come to God. Thank you for the reminder. God bless!

 

[Points To Ponder]

I oppose the death penalty, but he is not repentant, so why attack others as if Roof is some sort of saint? He still subscribes to the evil ideology he followed when he murdered 9 Christians in cold blood. Let's not ignore the victims of this crime and pretend as if Roof is not a cold-blooded killer.

I've not attacked anyone. I did ask a question. I doubt very seriously he is a saint. He may very well subscribe to evil and may remain evil BUT I'm fairly certain according to the scriptures Jesus wants him to repent. I have no idea if he has done so or will ever do so but that should not excuse US from praying that he does. When Jesus forgives us of our sins he is not "ignoring" those who were hurt by our sin.

Justice and punishment (even the death penalty) are a matter of law and reaping what we sow is not the issue. I have no issue with him being sentencing to death if that is what a jury decides but that does not excuse us from praying for his soul. This is basic theology. Let's not pretend that Jesus would not forgive this man.

 

[Points To Ponder]

We have a HATE problem in the world today. Only those who turn away from God's word and resist the Holy Spirit are unaware of this. Your Cause is not an excuse for hate. There is no excuse for hate and those who have it in their heart will not enter the Kingdom of God. There is no scripture supporting any measure of hate towards others. We should hate the sin but not the sinner. Evil people like Roof have hate in their hearts and if you do also, you share something in common with them.

 

[SummerMadness]

We have a HATE problem in the world today. Only those who turn away from God's word and resist the Holy Spirit are unaware of this. Your Cause is not an excuse for hate. There is no excuse for hate and those who have it in their heart will not enter the Kingdom of God. There is no scripture supporting any measure of hate towards others. We should hate the sin but not the sinner. Evil people like Roof have hate in their hearts and if you do also, you share something in common with them.

I fail to see where anyone claims to hate Roof in this thread?

 

[Points To Ponder]

I fail to see where anyone claims to hate Roof in this thread?

If you read my last post it says "IF" you have hate in your heart. My hope is that you do not. It is easy enough to see though that in the world today we have a tremendous amount of hate. The scriptures tells us that this will be the situation in the last days. We should not be surprised. It's hard not to hate at times but for myself, I pray that I do not. Love would cure a lot of issues in our world today.

 

[Points To Ponder]

Absolutely! Dylann Roof has free will, and I am assuming American prisons still allow prison chaplains. If Mr. Roof has access to these people and a Bible, then he has the opportunity to repent and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his saviour. Again, he has free will to escape God's judgment, but it will not save him from man's justice.

You are absolutely right about praying for him to come to God. Thank you for the reminder. God bless!

Rene, fighting off the sinful nature to hate those that we have strong issue with, hurt us, try to hurt others, attack our beliefs etc is something I cannot accomplish without prayer and Gods word. The Holy Spirit reveled to me not very long ago a very simple message that turned my heart around. It was simply "Jesus loves them". I was wow, how can I hate them knowing that? It kind of rattled me it was so clear. It was counter to my personality but I could not argue it.

 

[Rene Loup]

Rene, fighting off the sinful nature to hate those that we have strong issue with, hurt us, try to hurt others, attack our beliefs etc is something I cannot accomplish without prayer and Gods word. The Holy Spirit reveled to me not very long ago a very simple message that turned my heart around. It was simply "Jesus loves them". I was wow, how can I hate them knowing that? It kind of rattled me it was so clear. It was counter to my personality but I could not argue it.

We are all fallen human beings who are predisposed towards selfishness. Either fight against the flesh, or give into it. Even the most spiritually gifted men and women fight this battle every day. 1 Corinthians 13 along with John 3:16 is an amazing daily read! My mentor taught me this one!

...But we also need to be held accountable for our actions. We should never get to the point of enablement. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6, NIV).

God bless you, good sir!