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White supremacist Dylann Roof appeals death penalty in church massacre

Dylann Roof was sentenced to death for opening fire during a Bible study session at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 17, 2015.
Credit: AP
FILE - In this June 18, 2015, file photo, a group of women pray together at a makeshift memorial on the sidewalk in front of the Emanuel AME Church, in Charleston, S.C.

White supremacist Dylann Roof on Tuesday appealed his convictions and death sentence in the killing of nine black church members in South Carolina. 

His lawyers argue he was suffering from schizophrenia and other psychological disorders when he acted as his own lawyer during his capital trial. 

Roof became the first person to be ordered executed for a federal hate crime when he was sentenced to death for opening fire during a Bible study session at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 17, 2015.  

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

Credit: AP
Dylann Roof enters the court room at the Charleston County Judicial Center Monday, April 10, 2017.

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