Dylann Roof (pictured in April at his state trial in Charleston, South Carolina) wants to fire two of the lawyers working on his death sentence conviction because they are Indian and Jewish
Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof wants to fire his public defender attorneys because they are Jewish and Indian.
The racist mass murderer is on death row at Terre Haute Federal Prison in Indiana but is fighting to appeal his conviction and sentence at a court in Richmond, Virginia.
In a letter to the judge on Monday, he pleaded with the court to replace attorneys Sapna Mirchandani and Alexandra Yates because he says he cannot trust because they are his ‘political and biological enemies’.
‘My two currently appointed lawyers Alexandra Yates and Sapna Mirchandani are Jewish and Indian respectively. It is therefore quite literally impossible that they and I could have the same interests relating to my case.
‘Trust is a vital component in an attorney client relationship and is important to the effectiveness of the defense.
‘Because of my political views, which are arguably religious, it will be impossible for me to trust two attorneys that are my political and biological enemies,’ he wrote.
Roof. now 23, was 21 when he coldly marched in to Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, during a bible study on June 17, 2015.
He does not deny carrying out the killings and accepts the state sentence of life without parole that he received earlier this year but he is trying to avoid being executed.
Roof made the request in a letter to the judge in his appeals case on Monday
The 23-year-old also made reference to his trial attorney David Bruck whose religion was a ‘constant source of conflict’
Roof underlined his name in the handwritten letter and signed off ‘respectfully submitted’
The 23-year-old is on death row at Terre Haute prison in Indiana. His appeal is being heard in Richmond, Virginia
He opened fire on the group of black parishioners, killing nine and injuring one other in an effort to spark a race war.
In materials later found at his home, his vile racist obsessions were chronicled in journals and he appeared in videos practicing shooting.
In January, Roof was unanimously sentenced to death by a Charleston jury who found him guilty of murder, attempted murder and a slew of hate crimes.
He struggled against his court-appointed attorney David Bruck, who is Jewish, represented himself at the sentencing phase of the trial.
It later emerged he was desperate for the court not to become aware of his autism diagnosis which he feared would discredit his competency.
In his letter to the appellate judge on Monday, Roof made reference to their friction and blamed it on Bruck being Jewish, citing their religious differences as a ‘barrier to effective communication’.
Roof struggled against his trial attorney David Bruck (left) throughout his highly publicized trial last year. In his letter on Monday, he blamed their problems on Bruck being Jewish
Roof (above in one of scores of photographs he took of himself posing with guns before the massacre) represented himself at the sentencing phase of his trial in January against lawyers and judges’ advice
Roof killed nine people when he opened fire on Emanuel AME Church in Charleston during a bible study on June 17, 2015
Roof is on death row at the Terre Haute federal prison in Indiana (pictured above)
‘The lawyer appointed to represent me at my Federal trial was David Isaac Bruck who is also Jewish.
‘His ethnicity was a constant source of conflict even with my constant efforts to look past it,’ he wrote.
In Roof’s manifestos on race, he described wanting to ‘destroy the Jewish identity’.
Roof (above in 2015 after his arrest) said he wants his appeal to go ‘as smoothly as possible’
During his trial, where he chose not to present any witnesses in an effort to conceal his mental health diagnosis, he said psychology was a Jewish invention.
Yates and Mirchandani were appointed as his attorneys in January after he filed his appeal. Roof had already complained several times about Bruck and even once threatened to kill him if he ever escaped prison, according to his defense team.
They fought him on his decision to represent himself during the sentencing phase of his trial because they were convinced he was not mentally capable of doing so.
In statements filed to the court in January, his legal team described how he was convinced he would not be sentenced to execution, telling them: ‘Everybody likes me and feels sorry for me. I won’t get death.’
Mirchandani works is a staff attorney for James Wyda, the federal public defender for Maryland. Yates works for Hilary Potash, the federal public defender for the region of Los Angeles.
Roof gave no argument when he filed his appeal in January.
In his letter to the judge on Monday, he said he wanted the process to go ‘as smoothly as possible’.