Jury condemns Dylann Roof to death for South Carolina church massacre

A Department of Homeland Security officer prepares to stop traffic as security personnel transport Dylann Roof in a van after a jury sentenced him to death at the Charleston Federal Courthouse in Charleston, South Carolina January 10, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

Roof was unrepentant during his short closing argument, telling jurors he still felt the massacre was something he had to do.

"Anyone who hates anything has good reason for it," he said.

"I have a right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I'm not sure what good that will do anyone."

On June 17, 2015, Roof sat for 40 minutes with parishioners gathered for a Bible study meeting before opening fire as they closed their eyes to pray, Assistant US Attorney Jay Richardson said in his final statement to jurors.

Roof pulled the trigger 75 times as he methodically killed Hurd; Clementa Pinckney, 41, the church's pastor and a state senator; DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49; Sharonda Coleman Singleton, 45; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; Myra Thompson, 59; Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; and Tywanza Sanders, 26.

Jurors heard four days of heartrending testimony from more than 20 of the victims' loved ones, who described their legacies of faith and the devastation wrought by Roof's brutality.

"What's wrong here is the calculated racism, the choice to target a church, particularly the people in a church," Richardson told jurors. "What's wrong here is precisely why this is a case that justifies the death penalty."