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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A hearing has been set for next month to sort out jury selection details for the federal trial of a white man accused of gunning down nine black parishioners at a historic South Carolina church.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel on Thursday set a July 18 hearing in the federal case against Dylann Roof.
Prosecutors and Roof's attorneys agree on most jury selection details for the case set for Nov. 7, like summoning between 1,200 and 1,500 jurors. But they disagree about whether they should come from across South Carolina or just from the Charleston area.
Gergel's order also says the July 18 hearing will address how evidence about Roof's mental health will be presented during his federal trial.
Roof, 22, faces charges including hate crimes in the shooting deaths of parishioners during a Wednesday night Bible study at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church in June 2015.
Both state and federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and Roof's federal trial is set for November. The state case is not scheduled until January, although state prosecutors have said their case should be tried first.
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Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read more of her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/meg-kinnard/
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