A federal appeals court has slapped down a request from racist church killer Dylann Roof to f🍸ire his Jewish and Indian lawyers — issuing a one page, 11-word denial on Tuesday.
“The court denies the motion for substitution of counsel on appeal,” wrote the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia,
The ruling came just one day after Roof requested to ♐have his appointed attorneys, Alexandra Yates and Sapna Mirchandani, replaced on account of their ethnicities.
“Trust is a vital component in𓄧 an attorney client relationship, and is important to the effectiveness of the defense,” Roof wrote in a hand-written motion. “Because of my political views, which are arguably religious, it will be impossible for me to trust two attorneys that are my political and biological enemies.”
The self-avowed white nationalist has been on death row since January after being convicted of killing nine black parishioners at Charleston’s historic Emanuel AME Church in 2015.
He has previously had problems with his lead trial lawyer, David Bruck, due to the fact that he’s Jewish.
“His ethnicity was a constant source of conflict even with my constant efforts to look past it,” Roof said in his motion.
Legal experts told The State that Roof’s one-sentence denial on Tuesday ultimately shows that the court has little, if any, sympathy for him.
“What the court was basically saying was that Roof’s request has no merit whatsoever,” renowned Columbia defense attorney Jack Swerling explained. “Someone’s race and religion has nothing to do with whether that lawyer should be discharged. If it wasn’t so serious, this would be almost comical.”
Former US Attorney Bill Nettles added, “The one sentence response from the court was more than the request by Roof deserved…This young man is obviously very disturbed. His request is offensive and irrational.”