Although this CBS story refers to Dylann Roof as the "suspect" in the Charleston church massacre, I'm not sure why. No sane person I've ever heard of has any doubt that Roof is the killer. Saying that he's the "suspect" in the murders is like saying Fidel Castro was "suspected" of being the dictator of Cuba.
But I digress. Roof asked for, and today was granted, the right to represent himself. I of course have no idea what the defense will be but, like the judge, I think this is a strategically poor decision. It's unlikely that Roof will be anywhere near as creative, or as smooth a talker, as an experienced criminal defense lawyer would have been.
Roof's choice does have at least one advantage for those of us who think the death penalty should be imposed, without manufactured delay, on defendants unquestionably guilty of grotesque murders: The knowing choice to represent one's self after having been frankly warned by the court of its perils is a waiver of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim on appeal. When you buy the package knowing the defects of what's inside, you give up the right to complain that the merchandise was rotten.
I can't say there's a lot I admire about Dylann Roof, but I respect his decision to take on his own defense. In its own odd and revolting way, it's likely to be more truthful than the slicker version he put aside.
"I of course have no idea what the defense will be"
~ This pre-meditated murderer of 9 and attempted murderer of 3 more
should not be subject to the state violence of the death penalty
notwithstanding "Americans’ appetite for this barbaric practice,"
as the NY Times Editorial Board describes it, for so many
evolving reasons. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|Firstly,| "state-sanctioned killing" fails to "focu[s] on the "worst of the worst.""
|Secondly,| and so very relevant herein, "nearly all of last year’s death sentences came from ... [locations with] a pattern of racial bias and exclusion."
Furthermore, "As with much of American life, the challenge of racial, ethnic and gender disparity hangs over this conversation. Black and Latino
communities have long histories of being over-policed and over-
criminalized in the U.S." --Greg Berman & Julian Adler
|Thirdly,| Eminent democrat Judges Sotamayor, Ginsburg, and Breyer "have expressed deep misgivings" about capital punishment, so that after laborious deliberation, Stephen Breyer esteems it "highly likely that the death penalty
violates the 8th Amendment,” and has "called for the court to consider
whether it is constitutional at all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Root's most appropriate modern democrat defense against the death penalty
would of course be to re-emphasize that -- from marijuana to murder -- like
so many others, Dylann Roof is the victim of: [t]his racially freighted
history," "that has its origins in racism and xenophobia," "firmly
rooted in prejudices against Mexican immigrants and African-
Americans," "connected to brown people from Mexico and
subsequently with black and poor communities in this country,"
and suppressed by police who have employed "racial terms" and deemed
""immoral" populations who were promptly labeled "fiends"".
[Oh, and don't forget that as the NY Times declares,
"The nation has evolved past it".
~ thecrimereport.org/2016/09/21/finding-common-cause-victims-and-the-movement-to-reduce-incarceration/; www.nytimes.com/2016/10/24/opinion/the-death-penalty-nearing-its-end.html?_r=0; www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/opinion/high-time-federal-marijuana-ban-is-rooted-in-myth.html?op-nav