Dylann Roof sentenced to death for Charleston church massacre

I prosecuted a number of death penalty cases back in the day as a prosecutor in Orleans parish. Although all of my first degree murder trials resulted in convictions, none resulted in the death penalty. I think probably all if them would have gotten death sentences had they been tried in Jefferson parish. I was not then or now a proponent of the death penalty. I asked for it because I did not think it was my job to decide what laws were right or wrong, but rather to enforce them as written. I prosecuted gambling, prostitution and pot cases as well, all of which I would decriminalize.

With that background, is the death penalty a deterrent? Not in my opinion. It certainly would not have deterred Roof. People who kill, for the most part, do not plan on being caught. If life in a jail cell is not a deterrent, neither is the death penalty.

Was Roof mentally ill? Depends on your definition. Legally, clearly he was not. We apply a simple test in the US, the McNaughton rule. Did he know right from wrong? Yes he did. Most killers have some screw loose or something in their background, such as being abused as a child, which leads them to kill. It dies not equate to an insanity defense. Insane people do not run or attempt to avoid detection for what they did. They have no idea it was wrong, no reason to hide it. Roof is clearly a sociopath, he is just not insane as a matter of law.

As to Brennan's theological take, back when I prosecuted the defense would call in the death penalty phase a priest, in heavily catholic Orleans parish, to testify that the death penalty went against catholic principles. He was eventually instructed by his bishop to stop testifying because his views were not considered to be representative of the views by the church at that time.