Dylann Roof Found Guilty on All Counts in the Emanuel AME Church Massacre Trial in Charleston, South Carolina

GUILTY AS SIN!!!

Dylann Roof has been found guilty on all 33 counts in his trial in connection with the Mother Emanuel church massacre in Charleston, South Carolina that left 9 black parishioners dead. It took a 12-person panel a little over two hours to convict Roof on all 33 counts, including two dozen that fall under federal hate crime statutes. The jury will break for Christmas and return after the holidays on January 3, 2017 to begin debating whether the 22-year-old mass killer spends the rest of his life in prison, or is given the death penalty.

After nearly a week of painful testimony that vividly re-created the massacre at this city’s famed Mother Emanuel church, it took jurors about two hours Thursday to convict Dylann Roof in his federal hate crimes trial.

Roof was charged with 33 counts in his federal indictment. He was found guilty on every single one. Family members of the nine parishioners gunned down last year nodded silently as each charge was read aloud. Some held hands, their eyes shut tightly, as each guilty verdict was announced in the courtroom just a mile from the church.

With Roof’s guilt effectively unquestioned, this verdict was seen as likely, and the trial largely hinged on what happens next. Mirroring what happened during the Boston Marathon bombing trial last year — the last case that saw the Justice Department obtain a rare federal death sentence — there was no real question about guilt. Prosecutors played video footage of Roof admitting his guilt to FBI agents, and Roof’s attorneys did not argue that he was innocent.

Instead, the larger question surrounding the trial has focused on the next portion of the case, which will deal with whether Roof is sentenced to death or life in prison.