Accused gunman in Charleston church shooting proposes guilty plea

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - An attorney for the man accused of gunning down nine people at a historic black church in South Carolina in June said on Wednesday his client is willing to plead guilty to state murder charges if that would spare him a death sentence.

A guilty plea by Dylann Roof, 21, in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without parole also would spare the victims' families and survivors of the shootings from the trauma of trial proceedings, Roof's attorney Bill McGuire said.

His remarks came during a hearing in Charleston over whether a judge will release 911 emergency telephone calls and police 8reports about the June 17 massacre during a Bible study meeting at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church.

Prosecutors declined to comment afterward on whether they would accept a guilty plea from Roof, who is white and has been linked to white supremacist views.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/accused-gunman-charleston-church-shooting-proposes-guilty-plea-162700935.html

[GitRDun]

1. What a low excuse for a human being

He sentences innocent people to death and has the nerve to try and weasel his way out of a capital sentence!

I'm against the death penalty, but it just strikes me as outrageous that he has the nerve to ask for mercy when he couldn't give any at all.

[Barky Bark]

2. May I remind you that the defense of James Holmes offered the Arapahoe County DA the same offer

LWOP, to spare the pain, but the ambitious D.A. lost at the end when he didn't get the death penalty. Said ambitious D.A. is not getting any political interest (he's a Republican) and might wait until 2018 to be the next sacrificial lamb for the Governor's Mansion.

Cost the taxpayers millions when the idiot D.A. should have saved millions and no appeals.

[GitRDun]

3. Jiminy Christmas

I have no idea what you are saying...I don't know what LWOP means.

I do know it costs a lot of money to put someone to death...maybe that's what you are talking about. The cost of putting people to death is just one reason among many I am against the death penalty.

I wasn't talking about that at all.

Please read the post before commenting on it.

[Barky Bark]

4. LWOP = Life Without Parole

It's a well-known acronym

[GitRDun]

5. Lol well aren't you smart!

[davidn3600]

6. Other factor is what do the victims families want too

What do those families want? A death penalty trial won't be soon or quick. It's a long drawn out ordeal. The trial itself could re-open wounds. Maybe they would prefer to just get this over with now.

They are also expensive. The trial itself will probably cost more money than the cost of incarcerating him for life.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Sounds like a good deal ...

... save the expense of a trial, and put the guy away forever.

I'm not a fan of the death penalty, even for (fill in the most outrageous crime imaginable), so a life sentence without possibility of parole is ok.

[SmittynMo]

8. Why can't he plead guilty

and then be sentenced to death? Imagine what kind of person did this crime. Imagine what he did, in cold blood?

I say an eye for an eye........

I'm not a supporter of the death penalty either, but this guy has got to go.

[24601]

10. Because he will not plead guilty unless the prosecution agrees that the death penalty will no longer

e an option in the case.

It's pretty clear that they will not agree to that just to avoid a trial.

Everyone has the option to plead not guilty and to make the prosecution prove the case. It should not be too difficult to prove premeditated murder. The death penalty should never be presumed to be a foregone conclusion; however, it's likely that the lightest sentence here would be life without the possibility of parole. It doesn't guarantee he'd spend the rest of his life in prison as commutation, pardon or escape are all possible. It also doesn't guarantee he'd never kill again - just ask the family of Maryland corrections officer David W. McGuinn who was murdered July 25, 2006 by two inmates already serving life for murder. McGuinn , 42, was survived by a daughter, Shayna; a son, Zacary, and a stepdaughter, Ayisha.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080301007_2.html

[davidsmith75]

9. justice

I am not for the death penalty either, but when a cold blooded murderer gets away with a too light sentence...

Doesn't anyone ask what the family of the person(s) deceased think and feel? The dead person is gone, gone forever and the people left have to pick up the pieces and continue to breathe, work, love, respect, love...but how can they after such a horrible stab into their hearts?

[christx30]

11. I have no problem with this deal, personally.

This is a young guy. There is a lot of stuff he's never experienced. He's been consumed by hate and ignorance. Now he'll be in a cage until the day he dies. Either old age in 40 years or by some inmate in the cafeteria in like 3.