Judge Grants Dylann Roof’s Request to Represent Himself in Federal Death Penalty Trial

U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Gergel granted a request on November 28 from Dylann Roof (pictured), the 22-year-old charged with the murders of nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, to represent himself in his federal capital trial. Judge Gergel described Roof’s decision as “strategically unwise,” but said, “It is a decision you have the right to make.” A criminal defendant’s right to self-representation was established by the Supreme Court in 1975 in Farretta v. California, a non-capital case where the Court held that a defendant may waive his right to counsel provided such waiver is knowing, voluntarily, and intelligent. In Roof’s trial, the judge had temporarily halted jury selection in the trial on November 7, when Roof’s attorneys requested a determination of Roof’s mental competency to stand trial. After a two-day hearing, which was closed to the public because statements Roof made to a psychologist might taint the trial, Judge Gergel found Roof fit to stand trial. Jury selection is set to begin on November 28th, with 516 potential jurors reporting to the courthouse for questioning. After Roof’s federal trial, the state of South Carolina also plans to try him. He faces a death sentence in both trials. While the Supreme Court has not addressed whether a capital defendant may waive his right to counsel, death penalty experts have argued that such defendants should not be allowed to represent themselves, because of the complexity of capital cases and the finality of the sentence. Cornell Law Professor John Blume wrote, “when it comes to a criminal defendant facing society’s ultimate punishment, the defendant’s more symbolic interests in dignity and autonomy are outweighed by the criminal justice system’s interests, as well as society as a whole’s interests, in accuracy and fairness.” Last year, a Kansas judge permitted White Supremacist Frazier Glenn Cross to represent himself in a case in which he was charged with murders at a Kansas City Jewish Community Center. His lawyers had intended to present a mental health defense to the murders. After a controversial trial punctuated by outbursts by the defendant, the jury sentenced Cross to death.

(M. Kinnard, “JUDGE: CHURCH SHOOTING SUSPECT CAN ACT AS HIS OWN ATTORNEY,” Associated Press, November 28, 2016; D. Victor, “Dylann Roof to Represent Himself at Trial in Charleston Church Shootings,” The New York Times, November 28, 2016; J. Blume and M. Clark, “Unwell: Indiana v. Edwards and the Plight of Mentally Ill Pro Se Defendants,” Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, Vol. 21:151, 2011; M. Meckstroth, “The Case Against Self-Representation in Capital Proceedings,” Minnesota Law Review, 99:1935, 2015.) See Representation.