The self-declared white supremacist who was convicted Thursday of gunning down nine parishioners at a South Carolina church last year will not present mental health testimony during the penalty phase of his federal trial.
In a hand-written note filed Friday night, Dylann Roof, 22, told U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Gergel that he "will not be calling mental health experts or presenting mental health evidence" when the proceedings continue next month.
The admission came after Gergel ordered — then canceled — a hearing on the subject when Roof failed to meet a filing deadline.
The Associated Press reported that the move was expected.
In a journal filled with racist images and rants that was found in Roof’s car — and presented to as evidence during the trial — the AP reported that he described psychology as a "Jewish invention” that “does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don’t."
Roof, who is representing himself during his sentencing, faces the death penalty on over half of the 33 federal crimes he was convicted of in the June 17, 2015 massacre during a bible study class at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
The jury will return on Jan. 3 to determine whether Roof, who confessed to the killings in a videotaped interview with the FBI, should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.
