A federal judge in South Carolina has ruled that Dylann Roof is competent to stand trial for the murder of nine African Americans in Charleston in June of 2015.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel’s ruling clears the way for jury selection to restart Monday [Nov. 28].
The judge delayed the process to begin narrowing the final jury pool on Nov. 7 when Roof’s lawyers suggested he either didn’t understand the charges against him or couldn’t properly help them with his defense.
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Roof, 22, is charged in federal court with hate crime, obstruction of religion and other counts for the ... attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
Roof was already found competent to stand trial in state court; he faces the death penalty in the state trial on nine counts of murder.
Questions on what led to the competency hearing in the first place remain unanswered. Testimony in the hearing has been sealed.