Columbia, S.C. • A white supremacist who was sentenced to death in the 2015 massacre of nine black worshippers has told a federal appeals court he wants to fire his appellate attorneys because one of them is Jewish and the other is Indian-American.
In a handwritten request filed Monday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, Dylann Roof wrote that his attorneys’ backgrounds are “a barrier to effective communication.”
A focal point of Roof’s trial was his request to drop his defense team and represent himself. After closed-door hearings, a judge determined Roof was competent to act as his own attorney during the sentencing phase of his trial, provided his legal team stay on as standby counsel.