After a scheduling hearing at the J. Waites Waring Judicial Center in Charleston Tuesday afternoon, Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel announced jury selection in the trial of Dylann Storm Roof will begin on November 7.
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Dylann Roof, 22, of Columbia, S.C., is charged with entering the Mother Emanuel Church on June 17, 2015, and fatally shooting the pastor, Clementa Pinckney, and eight others, all black. Attorneys’ statements and testimony could start about two weeks later.
Roof is represented by David Bruck, one the country’s most notable and sought after trial lawyers for defendants facing the death penalty.
Prosecutor are seeking the death penalty in the trial.
According to Gergel, jury qualification will begin November 7, and there could be 1,200 to 1,500 prospective jurors. Bruck has previously said that his client would consider a plea deal if the death penalty was taken off the table.
Handcuffed and clad in a gray-striped prison jumpsuit, Roof attended Tuesday’s hearing but did not address the court.
Roof allegedly uttered racial epithets before shooting worshippers at Emanuel AME Church, which is a historically African-American congregation. The federal government hasn’t put anyone to death since 2003.
The Justice Department accuses Roof of perpetrating hate crimes by executing people based on their race. The site, which included photos of Roof holding a.45-caliber Glock pistol and a Confederate flag, was last modified just hours before the shooting attack.
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Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson had written the federal judge past year saying the state preferred to try Roof first. State prosecutors charged him with murder and attempted murder, while federal prosecutors charged him with 33 counts including hate crimes, obstruction of religion, and firearms offenses.
