CHARLESTON, S.C. | The Latest on the federal death penalty trial of Dylann Roof, who was convicted of killing nine black people during a South Carolina church Bible study (all times local):

A federal jury has convicted Dylann Roof in the racially motivated slayings of nine black church members in South Carolina.

The jury reached its verdict after less than two hours of deliberations. They convicted the 22-year-old white man of hate crimes and other charges.

They will reconvene next month to decide whether he should get the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison.

Roof just stared ahead as the verdict was read, much as he has throughout the trial. </s> The State has a team of reporters in Charleston giving up-to-the-minute updates on Dylann Roof’s federal death penalty trial, which started Dec. 7.

Roof is accused of shooting nine black parishioners to death at Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston in June of 2015.

Read The State’s live tweets from the Dylann Roof trial: </s> A jury is expected to decide as early as Tuesday whether Dylann Roof, the man who killed nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., will become the first person sentenced to death for federal hate crimes.

CHARLESTON, S.C.—Dylann Roof went to a historic black church in Charleston with a gun and a “hateful heart” and should be put to death for opening fire on people who had gathered for Bible study, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson told jurors who will soon begin deliberating Roof’s fate that the 12 people at Emanuel AME on the night of June 17, 2015, were God fearing church members who opened the door for a white stranger with a smile. Nine of them were slain and three survived.

“They welcomed a 13th person that night ... with a kind word, a Bible, a handout and a chair,” Richardson said during his closing argument at Roof’s sentencing. “He had come with a hateful heart and a Glock .45.”

Richardson’s argument is expected to be about two hours long. He reminded jurors about each one of the victims and the bloody crime scene that Roof, a 22-year-old white man, left behind in the church’s lower level. Roof waited until the final prayer — when everyone’s eyes were closed — to begin firing. He stood over some of the fallen, shooting them again as they lay on the floor, the prosecutor said.

The jury, which convicted Roof last month of 33 federal crimes, will decide whether Roof should be sentenced to execution or life in prison. </s> Dylann Roof -- the man convicted for the racially motivated mass murder in a South Carolina church -- was just sentenced to death.

Dylann showed little regret during his trial for murdering 9 black worshipers during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church back in June of 2015. He walked into the church and shot the churchgoers in cold blood.

Likewise, he showed zero remorse Tuesday in court ... where he represented himself and told jurors he felt like he had to kill his victims, and "I still feel like I have to do it."

The 12 person jury deliberated just 3 hours before announcing the sentencing in which Dylann repped himself. </s> CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Latest on the federal death penalty trial of Dylann Roof, who was convicted of killing nine black people during a South Carolina church Bible study (all times local):

A federal jury has convicted Dylann Roof in the racially motivated slayings of nine black church members in South Carolina.

The jury reached its verdict after less than two hours of deliberations. They convicted the 22-year-old white man of hate crimes and other charges.

They will reconvene next month to decide whether he should get the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison.

Roof just stared ahead as the verdict was read, much as he has throughout the trial.

Jurors have reached a verdict in the federal death penalty trial of a man charged with killing nine black parishioners during Bible study at a South Carolina church.

The verdict will be announced soon on the guilt or innocence of 22-year-old Dylann Roof.

The jury of nine white people and three black people deliberated less than two hours before returning a verdict. Roof faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes and obstruction of the practice of religion.

If they find Roof guilty, the same jury will return Jan. 3 to consider if Roof should be sentenced to death for the June 2015 attack at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

He is slated to face another death penalty trial in state court early next year.

The jury deciding whether Dylann Roof is guilty of killing nine black worshippers at a Charleston church wants to rehear part of his videotaped confession.

The jury sent a note to U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel about an hour into their deliberations asking to listen again to Roof being questioned and talking about how many people he might have killed.

Roof told FBI agents he killed about five people, and was later surprised when the agents told him nine people were shot and killed in June 2015 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church.

Gergel decided to set up the two-hour confession where jurors could watch as much or as little as they wanted to.

The jury is made up of nine whites and three blacks.

It’s now up to jurors to mull the guilt or innocence of a man charged with slaying nine black worshippers during Bible study at a South Carolina church.

Deliberations are getting underway Thursday afternoon in the case of Dylann Roof. He faces 33 federal charges including hate crimes.

Jurors heard from witnesses who testified Roof made multiple trips to Charleston in the months before the June 2015 attack at Emanuel AME Church. They also heard from two survivors. Roof’s attorneys called no witnesses.

Prosecutors said in their closing arguments Roof was filled with hate and has already confessed to the FBI to his role in the shootings. Defence attorneys portrayed Roof as a suicidal loner who never fully grasped the severity of what he has done.

The jury’s decision must be unanimous. If Roof is convicted, the same panel will reconvene Jan. 3 to begin considering if he should be sentenced to death or life in prison.

Dylann Roof’s lawyer has asked jurors to consider what was going on in his head as he planned the killings of nine black worshippers in a racially motivated attack at a Charleston church.

Defence attorney David Bruck conceded in his closing argument Thursday that Roof killed the victims at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015 and even praised the FBI investigation.

But Bruck also argued Roof was a suicidal, impressionable loner who never grasped the gravity of what he did.

Prosecutors successfully objected to several of Bruck’s arguments as he tried to argue Roof’s mental status. A judge has ruled that talking about his mental state is reserved for the next phase when jurors — if they find Roof guilty — will decide he if faces the death penalty.

Roof has said he will act as his own attorney during that part of the trial.

A prosecutor says the goodness of the victims who were slaughtered at a Charleston church has defeated Dylann Roof’s message of racial hatred.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams said Thursday in his closing argument that jurors should have no doubt about Roof’s guilt. He apologized before showing crime scene photos of the bodies with small pictures of each person when they were alive beside them.

Williams mocked Roof for calling his actions brave, saying the true bravery was in the black churchgoers who died trying to stop him.

Jurors will consider if Roof, who is white, is guilty of 33 charges, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion. He faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.

Federal prosecutors have started their closing argument in Dylann Roof’s death penalty trial by saying the 22-year-old white man targeted nine black church members when they were most vulnerable.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams told jurors Thursday that Roof waited until the Bible study group had its eyes closed for prayer before Roof opened fire.

Williams said he was going to concentrate less on the evidence and more on Roof’s hatred, cowardice and immense racial ignorance.

Williams says Roof believed black people were animals and less than human when he violated the sanctuary of the church and killed nine people on June 17, 2015, at Emanuel African Methodist Church.

Roof did not react to Williams’ arguments.

Roof’s attorneys will have a chance to make a closing argument.

Jurors will likely soon be asked to decide if the man accused in the shooting deaths of nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church is guilty of federal hate crimes.

Closing arguments are expected when the jury arrives Thursday morning at Dylann Roof’s death penalty trial. The judge will hand jurors the case a short time later.

Jurors will decide if Roof is guilty or not guilty of 33 separate charges, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion charges for each of the nine people killed and three who survived the June 2015 massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston.

If they find Roof guilty, the same jurors will return Jan. 3 for the next phase of the trial to determine if he’s sentenced to death or life in prison. </s> CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Dylann Roof was convicted today in the chilling attack on nine black church members who were shot to death last year during a Bible study, affirming the prosecution's portrayal of a young white man who hoped the slayings would start a race war or bring back segregation.

Instead, the single-biggest change to emerge from the June 17, 2015, slayings that shocked the nation was the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse, where it had flown for 50 years over the Capitol or on the grounds. Roof appeared with the flag in several photos in a racist manifesto.

In his confession to the FBI, the gunman said he carried out the killings after researching "black on white crime" on the internet. He said he chose a church because that setting posed little danger to him.

As the verdict was read, Roof just stared ahead, much as he did the entire trial. Family members of victims held hands and squeezed one another's arms. One woman nodded her head every time the clerk said "guilty." In all, Roof was convicted of 33 counts.

Jurors will reconvene early next month to hear more testimony and decide whether Roof gets the death penalty or life in prison. Roof told the judge again today that he wanted to act as his own attorney during the penalty phase. </s> CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP): The Latest on the federal sentencing trial of convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof (all times local):

A federal jury has sentenced Dylann Roof to death for killing nine black church members in a racially motivated attack in 2015.

Roof, who is white, faced either life in prison or execution for the slayings on June 17, 2015. The Justice Department says he is the first person to get the death penalty for federal hate crimes.

The jury reached a decision after about three hours of deliberations.

Roof was convicted last month of all 33 federal charges against him. During sentencing, he represented himself and told jurors he didn’t have a mental illness. But he didn’t offer any remorse or ask that his life be spared.

Roof told FBI agents he wanted to bring back segregation or perhaps start a race war with the slayings.

A jury deliberating whether Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof should be sentenced to life in prison or death has reached a verdict.

It will be announced soon. Roof was convicted of killing nine black church members in a racially motivated attack on June 17, 2015.

The jury reached a decision after about three hours of deliberations.

Roof, who is white, was convicted last month of all 33 federal charges against him. During the penalty phase of the trial, he represented himself and told jurors he didn’t have a mental illness, but he didn’t offer any remorse or ask that his life be spared.

In a lengthy confession, Roof told FBI agents he wanted to bring back segregation or perhaps start a race war with the slayings.

Jurors deliberating whether Dylann Roof should get death or life in prison have raised several questions about his potential imprisonment.

The jury on Tuesday asked U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel for clarification on some of the mitigating factors they’re being asked to consider, including if Roof could safely be confined if he were sentenced to life in prison. The judge told jurors to re-read the instructions he provided them to figure out what that means.

Jurors also asked to re-watch a speech by the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was one of the nine people Roof killed during a Bible study in 2015.

So far, jurors have deliberated Roof’s sentence more than two hours.

Roof didn’t ask jurors to spare his life and told them he still feels he “had to” kill the nine Bible study attendees at Emanuel AME Church.

Jurors have begun deliberating over whether Dylann Roof is sentenced to death or life in prison for his crimes.

Jurors were sent to the jury room Tuesday afternoon to begin considering the case after U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel reviewed the charge that governs jurors’ discussions.

Prosecutors focused on the gruesome nature of the slayings of nine black parishioners attending a June 2015 Bible study at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson also reminded jurors about the days of emotional testimony they’ve heard from relatives of all nine people killed.

Roof gave a brief closing of his own, telling jurors he knew he could ask them to spare his life but wasn’t sure “what good that would do.”

Roof is his own attorney in these proceedings and also told jurors he knew only one of them had to disagree with the others in order for him to avoid a death sentence.

Dylann Roof is telling jurors at his sentencing that he has the right to ask them for life in prison instead of execution but he says he is not sure “what good that would do anyway.”

Roof did not ask the jury to spare his life for killing nine black church members in June 2015. He gave a closing argument of about five minutes on Tuesday. At one point, he said he felt like he had to commit the slayings, and “I still feel like I had to do it.”

Prosecutors say he should be executed because he had a “hateful heart” and the young white man targeted the black church in a racially motivated attack.

Prosecutors have made their final case as to why they believe Dylann Roof should die for slaying nine people during a Bible study.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson told jurors on Tuesday that Roof’s crimes more than meet the standards they’ll consider for a possible death sentence.

Richardson says the way Roof mercilessly gunned down the black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church, coupled with his lack of remorse, mean he should receive the harshest sentence available.

Richardson also reviewed emotional testimony jurors have heard about each of the victims and the voids created by their deaths.

Roof is representing himself. The government will have the opportunity to give a rebuttal to anything Roof says, if he gives a closing argument.

Prosecutors are explaining why they think Dylann Roof deserves to be executed for his crimes.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson is laying out the standards that must be met for a death sentence, including that the defendant must be at least 18 years old and intentionally committed the crimes. There are also statutory aggravating factors, including killing “vulnerable” victims.

Richardson is giving the federal government’s closing argument during sentencing for Roof for the June 2015 slaughter at Emanuel AME Church. The prosecutor has reviewed testimony they heard about each of the nine victims, as well as Roof’s preparations for the shootings and the entrenchment of his hatred toward black people.

Roof is representing himself and has the chance to give a closing of his own after prosecutors finish.

Jurors are getting a review of the emotional testimony given by friends and relatives of the nine people gunned down by Dylann Roof during a June 2015 Bible study.

One by one, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson is reminding the jury of the voids created by the deaths of the people Roof killed. Relatives of the slain gave four days of testimony about what each person meant to them and how a future without them seems bleak.

Richardson is giving the government’s closing argument in its pursuit of the death penalty against Roof. Jurors are expected to begin their deliberations later Tuesday.

Prosecutors have begun closing arguments in Dylann Roof’s sentencing by reminding jurors about the bloody crime at a Charleston church where Roof killed nine people.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson recalled testimony from one of the massacre’s survivors, who said Roof said he’d leave her alive so she could tell the world what happened.

He reminded jurors of how survivor Felicia Sanders saw her son Tywanza slain as he lay next to her, his blood seeping out onto the floor.

Richardson has said he’ll likely take around two hours to close out the government’s argument as to why Roof should be executed for his crimes in 2015. Jurors are expected to begin their deliberations later Tuesday.

Prosecutors say they will take about two hours to close out their argument as to why Dylann Roof should be executed for slaying nine people at a South Carolina church.

Closing arguments are being made Tuesday morning in Roof’s federal sentencing trial. This is the last chance for prosecutors to make their case as to why he should be sentenced to death over life in prison.

Federal prosecutors wrapped up their case Monday with relatives of the youngest victim to die in the June 2015 attack on a Bible study group at Emanuel AME Church. Roof is representing himself and introduced no witnesses or testimony in his own defense.

Jurors will get the case after closings and their charge instructions.

The fate of convicted church shooter Dylann Roof will soon rest in the hands of the 12 jurors considering sentencing in his federal trial.

The same jury last month convicted Roof of 33 federal crimes, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion, in his June 2015 assault on a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church that left nine black parishioners dead.

After a holiday break, jurors returned last week to court, where prosecutors laid out their case for why Roof should be executed.

Jurors will get the case after closing arguments Tuesday morning from prosecutors and perhaps Roof, who has represented himself during sentencing but has put up no fight for his life. The 22-year-old didn’t call any witnesses, present any evidence and so far has not asked for mercy. </s> Dylann Roof was convicted Thursday in the chilling attack on nine black church members who were shot to death last year during a Bible study, affirming the prosecution’s portrayal of a young white man who hoped the slayings would start a race war or bring back segregation.

Instead, the single biggest change to emerge from the June 17, 2015, slayings that shocked the nation was the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse, where it had flown for 50 years over the Capitol or on the grounds. Roof appeared with the flag in several photos in a racist manifesto.

In his confession to the FBI, the gunman said he carried out the killings after researching “black on white crime” on the internet. He said he chose a church because that setting posed little danger to him.

Read more: Dylann Roof laughed while recounting Charleston church slaying in FBI confession

Read more: Dylann Roof to represent himself in court in church shooting trial

Read more: Judge rules Dylann Roof fit to stand trial in U.S. church shooting

As the verdict was read, Roof just stared ahead, much as he did the entire trial. Family members of victims held hands and squeezed one another’s arms. One woman nodded her head every time the clerk said “guilty.” In all, Roof was convicted of 33 counts.

Jurors will reconvene early next month to hear more testimony and decide whether Roof gets the death penalty or life in prison. Roof told the judge again Thursday that he wanted to act as his own attorney during the penalty phase.

In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams mocked Roof for calling himself brave in his hate-filled journal and during his confession, saying the real bravery came from the victims who tried to stop him as he fired 77 bullets at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church.

“Those people couldn’t see the hatred in his heart any more than they could see the .45-calibre handgun and the eight magazines concealed around his waist,” Williams said.

Defence lawyer David Bruck conceded Roof committed the slayings, but he asked jurors to look into his head and see what caused him to become so full of hatred, calling him a suicidal loner who never grasped the gravity of what he did.

The defence put up no witnesses during the seven-day trial. They tried to present evidence about his mental state, but the judge ruled that it did not have anything to do with Roof’s guilt or innocence.

Roof was just imitating what he saw on the internet and believed he had to give his life to “a fight to the death between white people and black people that only he” could see and act on, Bruck said.

Williams’ 50-minute closing argument filled the court with tension. At times, the prosecutor raised his voice, saying Roof was a cold, calculated killer. Some family members of victims dabbed their eyes with tissues, and jurors appeared emotional when Williams, after apologizing to them, showed crime scene photos of each person killed alongside a small picture of them while alive.

Those pictures included the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41, Emanuel AME’s pastor and a state senator; Myra Thompson, 59, who taught Bible study that night — the same night she was licensed to preach; Cynthia Hurd, 54, a librarian who stayed to support Thompson; Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49, who friends said sang like an angel and was also license to preach the day of the shootings; Daniel “Dapper Dan” Simmons, 74, nicknamed for his shiny shoes and fine hats; Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45, a high school track coach heavily involved in the church’s youth programs; Ethel Lance, 70, the church sexton who kept the bathrooms and building immaculately clean; Susie Jackson, 87, who sang in the choir and sent generations through the church; and Tywanza Sanders, 26, Jackson’s nephew and an aspiring poet who wanted to work with children.

The prosecutor said the good of all those faithful churchgoers prevailed over Roof’s hatred.

“This defendant chose to take their lives. He chose to break their bodies. But he does not get to choose who they were,” Williams said.

In a lengthy recording played earlier at trial, Roof told FBI agents he picked Mother Emanuel because of its historic significance in the black community. The church is the oldest in the South and one of its founders Denmark Vesey led a failed 1822 slave rebellion that drove the church underground.

Roof, who was convicted of federal hate crimes and obstruction of religion, said he had felt compelled to act because of the way blacks treated whites and said the shootings were “minuscule” in comparison.

The prosecutor recounted other evidence, like how Roof sat in the church parking lot for 28 minutes in his car, likely loading the 88 bullets — a number embraced symbolically by white supremacists — into eight magazines. Roof was handed a Bible as he sat in the prayer service for nearly 45 minutes before opening fire when the worshippers closed their eyes for the final prayer. He reloaded a half-dozen times and left behind three survivors, telling one woman that he wanted to keep her alive so that she could tell the world about the shootings.

After the shootings, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley threw her support behind removing the Confederate flag from the Statehouse. She had spent years in office calling it a settled issue.

“It is my hope that the survivors, the families, and the people of South Carolina can find some peace in the fact that justice has been served,” she said in a statement. </s> CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) -- Twelve federal jurors said Tuesday that Dylann Roof, the man who killed nine people in a 2015 massacre at a historically black Charleston, South Carolina, church, should be put to death.

The 10 women and two men recommended the death penalty for all 18 counts that carried that as a possible sentence.

Judge Richard Gergel will formally sentence Roof on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. ET. Roof, who represented himself during the penalty phase, told Gergel he wanted to file a motion for new lawyers. Gergel said Roof can argue that on Wednesday but he is not inclined to let that happen.

Before the jury deliberated his fate for three hours, Roof told the jury he still feels he had no choice but to kill nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015.

"In my confession to the FBI I told them that I had to do it, and obviously that's not really true. ... I didn't have to do anything," Roof said as he made his own five-minute closing argument in the penalty phase of his federal trial. "But what I meant when I said that was, I felt like I had to do it, and I still do feel like I had to do it."

But he also suggested he'd like to be spared.

"From what I've been told, I have a right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I'm not sure what good that will do anyway," Roof said. "But what I will say is only one of you has to disagree with the other jurors."

His statement followed a prosecutor's impassioned, two-hour argument in a Charleston courtroom urging jurors to give Roof the death penalty instead of their other option, life in prison without possibility of parole.

Jurors convicted Roof, an avowed white supremacist, last month of federal murder and hate crimes charges.

The prosecution and defense rested in the penalty phase on Monday, bringing to a close days of heartbreaking testimony from family and friends of victims who were killed.

Prosecutors argued that he's a calculating killer who deserves the death penalty because of his motive, his lack of remorse and the shooting's impact on the victims' families.

In his closing argument Tuesday morning, Assistant US Attorney Jay Richardson described the lives of all nine victims, cited Roof's "racist hatred" and reminded the jurors of the testimony and evidence that convicted him:
• Roof was at the church three previous times to scout his target.
• He sat with the group for 40 minutes before shooting.
• He pulled the trigger "more than 75 times ... reloading seven times" as he stood over his victims, shooting them repeatedly.
• He "showed not one ounce of remorse."
• Richardson referred to what Roof had told investigators in a recorded interview: That "somebody had to do it," in part because "black people are killing white people every day."

"Those are the words of an extraordinary racist who believed it was justified," Richardson said.

Earlier in the penalty phase, prosecutors presented evidence that included chilling writings from a jailhouse journal Roof wrote after the attack.

"I would like to make it crystal clear. I do not regret what I did," Roof wrote in the journal. "I am not sorry. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed."

Friends and relatives of victims slain in the shooting gave emotional testimony in court before Tuesday, some of them sobbing on the stand.

As they made their case, prosecutors played haunting recordings of the victims preaching, praying and singing.

Roof, 22, did not question witnesses, but filed several motions objecting that their testimony had been too emotional.

In his brief opening statement last week, he told jurors that he doesn't have mental health problems.

Roof is also set to be tried on state murder charges, and prosecutors have said they'll also seek the death penalty in that case.

Serial killer Gary Lee Sampson was the last person to get a federal death sentence. He's one of 63 federal prisoners, including Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, awaiting execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit.

Only three federal inmates have been executed in the United States since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988 after a 16-year moratorium:
• Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh on June 11, 2001, six years after he killed 168 people.
• Juan Raul Garza on June 19, 2001, eight years after he was convicted of running a marijuana drug ring and killing three people.
• Louis Jones on March 18, 2003, eight years after he kidnapped and murdered 19-year-old Army Pvt. Tracie McBride.
American Dylann Roof is sentenced to death for the Charleston church shooting in which nine people were killed.