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Our View: Dyllann Roof gets sentence he wanted and deserves

It’s hard to understand the mind of a killer. Dylann Roof told the FBI that he felt he had to do something about blacks whom he perceived as a threat to whites. So on June 17, 2015, he picked a group of the least threatening black people he could find, a church study group. He sat and prayed with them for a while, then stood up and started shooting them. He killed nine, hoping to start a race war or at least get segregationist policies back, putting blacks “back in their place,” we suppose.

Facing a possible death penalty after being convicted on federal murder and hate crime charges, Roof acted as his own attorney in the penalty phase, but cross examined no witnesses, presented no one to speak on his behalf, and again told jurors he did what he felt he had to do.

So it is no surprise Roof was sentenced to die this week. He’s getting the sentence he deserves, and apparently wants.

We don’t approve of the death penalty in most cases. But in this case it seems apt, and any objections to the death penalty can be quickly dispelled.

Some object to the death penalty because of the uncertainty that exists in so many murder cases. We see the number of death row prisoners who have been cleared and exonerated by DNA evidence, or by a more careful examination of their case, and we wonder how many innocent people have been executed for crimes they didn’t commit. That’s not a problem here. Roof committed the murders, without a doubt, and admitted it with no remorse.

Some argue that executing Roof is giving him what he wants, opening up the possibility that he will become a martyr for whatever foul cause will embrace him. It would be better to throw him in prison for a long, long life of misery and oblivion. Misery? Perhaps. Oblivion? How many decades has Charles Manson been imprisoned in California? He still pops up in the news once in a while. He’s still here.

Others argue the cost of keeping someone on death row is so much higher than regular imprisonment, due to the many appeals we can expect over the years. Well, in this case, we consider it money well spent.

Dyllan Roof made his choices, and will now suffer the just consequences. We can’t imagine too many people mourning him.

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