The Latest on the federal sentencing trial of convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof (all times local):
11 a.m.
Authorities say Dylann Roof still embraces racist symbols, more than a year and a half after slaughtering nine black people at a historic South Carolina church.
FBI Special Agent Joseph Hamski testified Friday that the convicted Charleston church shooter wore shoes in jail with “racist symbols” scrawled on them.
Prosecutors displayed photos of the shoes Roof wore several weeks after his arrest in the June 2015 shootings at Emanuel AME Church. On them were crosses that Hamski said were symbols used by white supremacists.
Roof did not ask Hamski any questions on cross-examination. He is representing himself at his sentencing trial and has said he plans to put up no case in his own defense.
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10:20 a.m.
An FBI agent and prosecutors are reviewing evidence that lays out Dylann Roof’s movements the day of the shootings at Emanuel AME Church and his writings afterward.
Special Agent Joseph Hamski took the stand Friday as prosecutors re-introduced maps made from Roof’s GPS signal showing his car was driven to the church the night of June 17, 2015. Hamski also verified evidence showing a call from Roof’s home to the church as well as a handwritten list of other black churches that was found in his car.
Hamski also read some of Roof’s writings. In one, he talked about ways whites were superior to other races and what they could do to assert their power.
The same jury that last month convicted Roof of 33 federal charges, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion, is mulling whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison. Roof has said he’ll put up no case in his own defense, and prosecutors say they expect to finish their presentations Monday.
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8:40 a.m.
More emotional testimony is expected from family members of some of the people killed in the June 2015 slaughter at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
Federal prosecutors say they plan Friday to present testimony from relatives of Cynthia Hurd, Ethel Lance and Susie Jackson. Assistant U. S. Attorney Jay Richardson said the government could wrap up its case against Dylann Roof on Monday with the family of Tywanza Sanders.
The federal government is seeking the death penalty for Roof, convicted last month in the nine shooting deaths. Roof has put up no case arguing he should get life in prison, cross-examining no witnesses and saying he plans to call none of his own.
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3:35 a.m.
One by one, friends and family members walked up to the witness stand and testified about the nine black church members gunned down during a Bible study in Charleston on June 17, 2015. They described personalities, future plans and final conversations.
The testimony came during the sentencing phase of Dylann Roof’s death penalty trial. The same jury that convicted the 22-year-old white man of hate crimes and other charges will decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or death.
Roof faces murder charges in state court, where his trial had been slated to start later this month. But a state judge Thursday delayed that trial indefinitely because federal proceedings are ongoing.
