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Dylann Roof Found Competent To Stand Trial For South Carolina Church Shootings

By Shaunee Flowers
Published on: 08:40 PST, Nov 25, 2016

Dylann Roof has been found competent to stand trial for the shooting deaths of nine black victims of a South Carolina church shooting last year according to a federal judge on Friday. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel’s ruling means that jury selection for Roof’s trial will begin on Monday.

On November 7, the process of jury selection was halted by the judge after Dylann Roof’s lawyers suggested that he didn’t understand the charges against him and that they couldn’t help him with his defense. It’s not clear what prompted Roof’s lawyers to suggest that he wasn’t fit for trial.

Roof has been charged in federal court with the murder of nine church parishioners and faces special circumstances because the shootings have been ruled a hate crime and obstruction of religion. If convicted, Dylann Roof faces the death penalty.

The decision that Dylann Roof is competent to stand trial came after a two-day hearing where the judge had to decide if Roof was mentally competent and if he understood the charges against him. That hearing was closed to the public, and likewise, Judge Gergel decided not to release a transcript of the hearing to the public using the argument that some of the testimony at that hearing might not be admissible in court and that he didn’t want it to influence potential jurors. He is expected to release an edited version of the transcript to the public.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel said the following.

“A criminal defendant is not competent to stand trial only if the Court finds ‘that the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect’ that renders him ‘unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense.’ The test for competency is whether the defendant ‘has a sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding’ and ‘has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.'”

“The public disclosure of that document at this time would prejudice defendant’s rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and place in jeopardy the defendant’s right to select a fair and impartial jury and to a fair trial,” Judge Gergel wrote.

While Judge Gergel insists that the recent hearing was kept private to make sure that Dylann Roof receives a fair trial. Despite that, members of the victims’ family have complained about the private hearing, believing that they have a right to know what was said and what testimony Roof gave to determine his competency.

Judge Gergel wrote in his order regarding the competency hearing that in addition to Dylann Roof’s testimony, he also heard testimony from psychologist James Ballenger according to ABC News. Also, they heard from four witnesses whose identities were not revealed and reviewed sworn statements from three more. Judge Gergel argued in his written order that Ballenger is “one of the nation’s most renowned and respected psychiatrists” Ballenger has practiced psychiatry for 45 years and the last 17 years has been the department chair for psychiatry and behavior sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Prosecutors plan to ask for the death penalty in the case against Dylann Roof. Before finding him competent to stand trial in federal court, Roof was already found competent in state court where they are trying him on nine counts of murder. Roof is accused of murdering nine attendees of the Emmanual AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina when he walked into their bible study and opened fire in June 2015.

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