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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Several family members of the nine people who were gunned down at a historic black church in South Carolina last year say they support decisions by state and federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the man charged in the killings.
Steve Hurd, whose wife, Cynthia, was among those killed last June in Charleston, says he won't be at peace until Dylann Roof is put to death. And he says he would only get "full closure" if he were to be the one to administer the lethal injection, or pull the switch on the electric chair.
Roof is facing nine counts of murder in state court. He's charged with hate crimes and other offenses in federal court. Roof's federal attorneys have said their client would be willing to plead guilty if the maximum punishment weren't on the table.
Due in part to problems in obtaining lethal injection drugs, no one has been executed in South Carolina since 2011. The federal government hasn't put anyone to death since 2003.
%@AP Links
095-c-17-(Tim Maguire, AP correspondent)-"Carolina state house"-AP correspondent Tim Maguire reports that last year's brutal killings during a bible study class at Emanuel AME church shocked the nation and led to some changes. (25 May 2016)
<<CUT *095 (05/25/16)££ 00:17 "Carolina state house"
094-c-23-(Tim Maguire, AP correspondent)-"Roof be convicted"-AP correspondent Tim Maguire reports the 22-year-old man charged in the Charleston church shootings now faces a possible federal as well as state death sentence. (25 May 2016)
<<CUT *094 (05/25/16)££ 00:23 "Roof be convicted"
APPHOTO NY122: FILE - This June 18, 2015, file photo, provided by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office shows Dylann Roof. The Justice Department intends to seek the death penalty against Roof, the man charged with killing nine black parishioners last year in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday, May 24, 2016. (Charleston County Sheriff's Office via AP, file) (31 Jul 2015)
<<APPHOTO NY122 (07/31/15)££
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