Dylann Roof murder trial: ‘I do not regret what I did

Earlier, Pinckney had tried to call out from the secretary’s phone, but in the darkness could not see the numbers, and she feared the shooter had already heard its loud tone.

Middleton recalled his friend’s big dreams and Pinckney’s potential to have even been South Carolina’s first African-American governor. She said she was walking to the door when she saw blood on the floor. Gerald Malloy, also spoke about him in court Wednesday. Jennifer Pinckney and Malana were sitting in the pastor’s study when shots rang out. The 12-member jury will decide whether Roof should be executed or serve life in prison without possibility of parole. While Clementa Pinckney – who started leading his first church at 18 – eventually became a senator, “he always made time for the family and he always made time for the girls”, Jennifer said.

“A chill came completely over me”, Jennifer Pinckney testified.

“January of this year, that’s what we’d be doing”, the widower said, his voice breaking. “Gunshots were still going”, Pinckney said. “I just couldn’t imagine she would want to marry me”.

“She was the person I prayed for”, he said.

On a call to 911 played in court, the daughter can be heard asking her mother, “daddy’s dead?”

“I need to go in there. He was that great catch”, Pinckney said. She testified about her relationship with her husband and about the shooting. She was on the stand for more than two hours. “Don’t say anything. You have to be quiet'”.

“I reached on the top of the desk”. But as soon as she picked it up, it made a loud beeping sound. In representing himself, he is able to keep any questions about his mental state from the jury. She told the jury that her husband of 16 years was a beloved father of two daughters. “She was holding onto me”. They sat in silence and showed no emotion. Then Pinckney heard the gunman speak.

While Roof insists his mental capacities are sound, those who know him claim that he regularly used a variety of drugs ranging from daily cocaine use to Suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid addiction but which can also be used recreationally for minor opiate effects, the State reported. He warned jurors that what they would hear might be hard to process. Still, Pinckney thought, “this is it”.

Roof is representing himself but has said he plans to call no witnesses or introduce any evidence. “It isn’t because I have a mental illness that I don’t want you to know about”, he said.

She believes she survived to continue her husband’s legacy. She then delivered the devastating news to her daughters. “I leaned over and they rushed me out”.

Court papers show prosecutors are expected to present evidence showing Roof picked his victims due to their race, killed them to incite more violence, showed no remorse and killed three particularly vulnerable people who were 70 years old or older.