Twelve jurors were chosen on Wednesday to decide the death penalty trial of a white man who authorities say wanted to start a race war by killing nine black people in a South Carolina church.  Opening statements were under way in the trial of Dylann Roof in a federal courthouse about a mile away from the church. Roof wore a gray and white striped prison jumpsuit and stared mostly at the table in front of him.  Roof is charged with 33 offenses, including hate crimes leading to the loss of life and murder. He faces the death penalty. The 22-year-old has also been charged in a state murder case, which also carries the death penalty and will follow this trial.  There was a heavy security at US courthouse in downtown Charleston, with local police and federal officers from the Department of Homeland Security positioned outside the the building.  Authorities say Roof sat with 12 people in Bible study and prayer for an hour at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on 17 June 2015 before pulling a gun from his fanny pack, firing dozens of shots and reloading several times.  His trial begins as another racially charged court case ended on Monday in a mistrial. Jurors could not agree on a verdict for former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, who shot a black man, Walter Scott, in the back as he was running away from a traffic stop.  In contrast to the Slager case, Roof’s lawyers have offered several times to plead guilty if federal prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. They refused.  Authorities say Roof hurled racial insults during the massacre, telling the parishioners he was killing them because he wanted a war between whites and blacks because black people were raping white women and taking over the country.  Roof left three people alive in the church basement so they could tell the world his reasons for the shooting, police said. Two others, who were in another room, also survived.  The church slayings took place a little more than two months after the Slager shooting, which was shown online and on TV millions of times after a bystander recorded it. Charleston has stayed mostly calm, and the state prosecutor has promised a retrial.  Prosecutors have said it would take six to seven days to make their case against Roof. Defense attorney David Bruck said Roof’s case would take little additional time.  The past week has had its own drama as Roof fired his lawyers to act as his own attorney, then hired them back Monday. But he said he will represent himself if he is found guilty and must fight for his life during the penalty phase.  Roof’s attorneys said they don’t know why he wants to be his own lawyer but said in other cases, defendants have been trying to avoid having their lawyers introduce embarrassing evidence that could sway jurors.
Opening statements under way at South Carolina federal courthouse near church where Dylann Roof fatally shot nine black congregants in June 2015