CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson has confirmed convicted Charleston church gunman Dylann Roof will avoid a state death penalty trial.
Roof will plead guilty to state charges and receive a life sentence. The move, Wilson said, will ensure Roof will get into federal custody.
Dylann Roof was sentenced to death on January 10 of this year in a federal trial held in Charleston.
It took about 15 minutes for U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel to read through the entire verdict form, repeating time and again that the jurors unanimously decided Roof was guilty of the capital offenses and deserved death.