Saturday, June 17, 2017

Charleston victim's brother: Dylann Roof should get death penalty



On this date, June 17, 2015, Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.


Malcolm Graham poses with his a portrait of his sister Cynthia Hurd on the first anniversary of her killing in a Charleston church jsimmons@charlotteobserver.com John Simmon

Charleston victim's brother: Dylann Roof should get death penalty
Updated 1725 GMT (0125 HKT) December 16, 2016

(CNN)The brother of one of the Charleston shooting victims called for Dylann Roof to receive the death penalty Friday, insisting that Roof should "to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."


Malcolm Graham, whose sister, Cynthia Hurd, was one of the nine people fatally shot by Roof during a Bible study class at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015, told CNN's Carol Costello that for him, the appropriate sentence in this case is crystal clear.

"If there's any case in America where the death penalty is deserved, it is this one," Graham said.

"The crime was premeditated. It was calculated."

But most importantly, Graham said, Roof's crime "was an attack on a race of people."

"Those who died that night simply died because they were there, and that they were black. That type of hate, that type of discrimination, that type of just evil, has no place in a civilized society, and has no place in America's jails," he emphasized.

Roof, who confessed to the killings, was found guilty of all 33 federal counts against him on Thursday. Next month, the jury will decide whether to sentence him to death. The self-declared white supremacist, whose lawyers have challenged the federal death penalty, will represent himself in the penalty phase of the trial. That means that he'll have the right to pose questions to the relatives of those he murdered. It's a nightmare scenario that Graham, nonetheless, is determined to be a part of; for the sake of the woman he called a "mentor and a mother figure."

"She was personable. She was sharp. She was candid. She loved life. She loved her community," Graham said.

"Not only was she a big sister to me, but she was a role model. So the community lost a community asset that night. And if called upon to tell the community who Cynthia was, and how she lived, and what type of loss the Charleston community has suffered because of her death, I'm well prepared to do that," he added.

As for what he would say directly to the man who killed his sister, Graham told Costello he had words prepared.

"I will say that he's an evil killer. That he's a coward," he said.

"He's a racist. There's no place in a civilized society for him and there's no place in America's smallest jail for him."


Roof victim's brother calls for death penalty
Published on Dec 16, 2016
Malcolm Graham, the brother of Charleston shooting victim Cynthia Herd, called for Dylann Roof to be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law" Friday.


  

OTHER LINKS:

Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof's death penalty is upheld by federal judges after lawyers tried to argue he is mentally ill and believed 'other white nationalists would free him from prison after a race war'

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=170012288548102&id=101692122046786

https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail/posts/7390540291005655

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9926689/Black-church-shooters-conviction-death-sentence-upheld.html

Unit 1012 USA Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/posts/4230356170413303/

PHOTO: https://www.facebook.com/Samurai-Police-1109-101692122046786/photos/a.101709305378401/107131394836192

“It’s bittersweet, right,” Graham said. “I sat through the trial for well over four months ... was there when the verdict came down from the jury of death. I thought it was appropriate then, and I think it's appropriate now. We live in a society of laws and the rule of law has to come into play. It says really loud and clear that racism, bigotry and discrimination that leads to death should be met with death.” - Charlotte City Council member responds to death penalty sentence being upheld for Dylann Roof

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2047303922087635&id=1299628893521812

https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/local/charleston-shooting-dylann-roof-murder-death-conviction/275-8f911993-d92e-401c-ab89-be1143ff356a

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