The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Dylann Roof over his death sentence and conviction on Tuesday. Roof was convicted in 2016 for killing nine when he opened fire on the Black congregation of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, during bible study in a racially-motivated attack.
Roof had asked the court to decide how to handle disputes over mental illness-related evidence between capital defendants and their attorneys. The justices did not comment Tuesday in turning away the appeal.
When a capital defendant who has been ruled competent to stand trial and his attorneys “disagree on whether to present mitigating evidence depicting him as mentally ill, who gets the final say?” Roof’s appellate team wrote in their petition.
