The prosecutor also read a portion from a journal found in Roof’s jail cell six weeks after his arrest.
“I remember how I felt when I did these things and how I knew I had to do something and then I realize it was worth it,” Roof wrote, as a handwritten page appeared on screens in the courtroom. “I would like to make it crystal clear. I do not regret what I did. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed.”
As their first witness, prosecutors called Pinckney’s widow, Jennifer Pinckney. During more than two hours on the stand, Pinckney described her husband as an affable figure who garnered respect from all corners in his roles as legislator and preacher but was a goofy family man in private with his two young daughters.
“He always made time for the family, and he always made time for the girls,” said Pinckney, describing her husband’s affinity for cartoonish neckties and socks. “He was the person I think that every mom would be happy that their daughter met and married. … I know that he loved me. And he knew how much that I loved him.”
She described the night of the shootings, saying she and her then-6-year-old daughter were in her husband’s office when gunfire erupted. She locked the doors, shoved her daughter Malana under a desk and put her hand over her mouth.
“She was like, ‘Mama, is daddy going to die?’ And I told her, ‘Malana, be quiet.’”
She said she believed she survived the shootings because she was meant to continue her husband’s legacy, part of which involved fighting to get the Confederate flag removed entirely from the South Carolina Statehouse, which happened about a month after the attack.
“Yes the flag came down and so forth, but he just did so much,” she said. “You can’t please everyone. He tried to please as many people as he could.”
Pinckney wasn’t asked whether she thought Roof deserved the death penalty. Some family members of victims have offered forgiveness. Others have said they are undecided.
When it was Roof’s turn to cross-examine Pinckney, he said, “No questions.”
He has said he doesn’t plan on calling any witnesses or introduce any evidence.
Article Appeared @http://time.com/4621980/dylann-roof-jury-fine-psychologically/?xid=homepage