Trial Date Set for Friend of Dylann Roof

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Judge Richard Gergel told government prosecutors Tuesday that time is running out for Attorney General Loretta Lynch to decide whether the government will seek death for accused church shooter Dylann Roof.

After hearing from federal prosecutors that Lynch had not yet decided after a bar meeting last term, Gergel warned that further delays could forfeit their ability to choose.

“My patience is running out. I’m going to set a deadline and if you don’t meet that deadline you’re going to waive the right to seek death,” Gergel said.

Attorneys say the Department of Justice is being deliberate in the decision, and said one thing that’s being considered is having two trials for Roof. Gergel said he did not want to have the trial running concurrently.

Still, Gergel said careful deliberation that’s taken more than three months has implications, particularly in the interest of the public to see a speedy trial.

Roof’s attorney David Bruck said a decision from the Attorney General would immediately let them know how to proceed.

If the government does not seek death for Roof, the man accused of killing nine parishioners at Emanuel AME will plead guilty and forego what could be a lengthy trial. Instead, he will go into a sentencing hearing for the nearly three dozen federal hate crime charges he faces.

Bruck is also starting to push for a decision and said Tuesday he did not want to ask for another continuance if it meant forfeiting his right to a speedy trial.

Gergel assured him it would not at this point.

When asked if Bruck was ready to have Gergel set a trial date despite the delays from the Attorney General’s office, he said: “You’re damn close.”

Roof waived his right to appear in the day’s hearing so he was not there. Neither was his friend, Joey Meek.

Attorneys for Meek, Roof’s friend charged with misprision of a felony, say they are ready for trial and we’re aiming for a two-week time frame late in June. A date was set on Tuesday.

Meek’s trial, unless he takes a plea deal before it starts, will begin on June 27 and run through July 8, which means attorneys in the Roof case will spend much of the trial picking a jury.

Roof goes to trial on July 11 in state court on nine murder charges.