by Amna El Tawil

Charleston church mass murderer, Dylann Roof, insisted to jurors that he, actually, isn’t a racist man driven by hatred in a bid to avoid the death sentence. During a brief and incoherent closing arguments in his death-penalty trial, Roof said: “I think it’s safe to say no one in their right mind wants to go in a church and kill people.”



The mass murderer also added: “You may remember in my confession I said I had to do it. I guess that’s not really true. I didn’t have to do it, no one made me do it. What I meant when I said that was I felt like I had to do it and I still feel like I had to do it.”



Then, he went on to say that he doesn’t hate black people, he only hates what they do. He asked: “If I’m filled with as much hate as I allegedly am, why would I lie about that?”



#BREAKING This is my rough transcript of what Dylann Roof just told the jury in his death penalty sentencing closing argument. #RoofTrial pic.twitter.com/YDkc9tVdYY — Carter Coyle Live 5 (@CarterCoyleWCSC) January 10, 2017



That’s not all; speaking to the members of the jury, Rush also complained that he’s a victim because prosecutors hate him. He added: “Anyone, including the prosecution, who thinks I’m full of hatred has no idea what real hate is.”



Jurors will decide whether to sentence Roof convicted of gunning down worshippers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015, to death or life in prison without parole.



Dylann Roof asked jurors to give him a life sentence: “I have the right to ask you to give me a life sentence. I don’t know what good that would do anyway.”



Prosecutors summed up earlier in the day by reminding jurors of the terror each of the nine victims endured as Roof shooting them one by one.



Jay Richardson, assistant US attorney, said the 12 people Roof targeted were God-fearing church members who opened the door for a white stranger with a smile. Three people survived. He said: “They welcomed the 13th person that night … with a kind word, a Bible, a handout and a chair. He had come with a hateful heart and a Glock .45.”



Looks like his closing statement didn’t work because the jury still sentenced him to death.