Dylan Roof, a man who claimed responsibility for killing parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015, was assaulted inside the Charleston County Jail.
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According to local law enforcement officials, Dwayne Stafford ran after the alleged shooter Dylann Roof and hit him.
Roof, who is in protective custody at the Charleston County Detention Center, was on his way to the shower when the beating happened, according to Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon Jr.
Roof, who is accused of murder and hate crimes, faces a federal trial set for November and a state trial set to begin early next year.
Both inmates were examined and cleared by the detention center’s medical staff. Roof is scheduled to remain in his original housing unit.
The inmate, 25-year-old Dwayne Stafford, bolted from his cell as it lay open, using the brief window of time in which a guard was fetching toilet paper for another inmate. Stafford was not in the shower at the same time as Dylann Roof. Eric Watson tells The Associated Press that the assault occurred outside Roof’s cell Thursday morning.
Roof’s injuries were “relatively minor”, Cannon said, and he was not hospitalized, a jail representative said.
After the incident, the attorney for Roof has reported his client does not wish to press any charges against Stafford for beating him up.
“There’s nothing I’m aware of, beyond the obvious speculation we all have given the nature of the situation”, he said. It also linked out to Stafford’s commissary account on JailPackStore.com, a website that allows the friends and families of inmates to make purchases for them and deposit funds into their prison accounts. He’s now in jail in Charleston County for armed robbery, providing false info to police as well as assault and battery.
Roof is charged with nine counts of murder in state court.
Prosecutors allege Dylann Roof wanted to start a race war.
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On Monday his lawyers filed a legal challenge to the us death penalty, saying it was “arbitrary and cruel” and therefore unconstitutional. Prosecutors in that case have not said if they will pursue the death penalty.
