US Appeals Court Upholds Death Sentence for Dylann Roof for Church Massacre

WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) - The US Federal Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the death penalty for Dylann Roof for murdering nine African-Americans attending the Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.

 

"They had welcomed him. He slaughtered them," the ruling said. "When apprehended, he frankly confessed, with barely a hint of remorse… His crimes qualify him for the harshest penalty that a just society can impose," the ruling said.

Roof carried out his crime with the express intent of terrorizing not just his immediate victims but as many similar people as would hear of the mass murder. He used the internet to plan his attack and, using his crimes as a catalyst, intended to foment racial division and strife across America, read the ruling.

"He wanted the widest possible publicity for his atrocities, and, to that end, he purposefully left one person alive in the church", the judges said in their ruling.

In July, US Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium suspending all federal executions and ordered the Department of Justice Department to review execution policies.