Judge denies latest effort to delay Dylann Roof's mental competency hearing
COLUMBIA, SC -- The trial judge has denied a request from attorneys for convicted Charleston church mass killer Dylann Roof to delay a competency hearing after the laywers said Roof “may lack the mental capacity” to be his own attorney.
Roof has told U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel that he wants to be his own lawyer in the punishment phase of his death penalty trial that is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Charleston.
The jury will hear evidence and then decide if Roof is to be executed or gets life in prison without parole.
But on Monday, Gergel is to hold a closed hearing to listen to new mental health evidence. The State newspaper and other media outlets have asked Gergel to hear arguments about why that hearing should be open to the public.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article123743119.html