SOUTH CAROLINA — (AP) Dylann Roof told a judge Wednesday he would rather face the death penalty for racist church killings than have his lawyers say he had autism in open court.
In part of several hundred pages of court documents released Wednesday, Roof told U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel that being labeled with autism would discredit why he did the crime.
Roof was convicted and sentenced to death in the killings of nine worshippers during a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in June 2015.
In other documents, Roof’s lawyer told Gergel that Roof wanted to be tried in federal court because there were no TV cameras.
Attorney David Bruck says Roof thought his forehead was horribly large and didn’t want to be seen in public. He says that’s also why Roof had a bowl haircut.
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