CHARLESTON, S.C.—Dylann Roof’s mother suffered a heart attack not long after prosecutors described how her son planned a cold and calculated killing of nine black church members in a racially motivated attack, the white man’s attorney said in court documents Thursday.
Roof’s mother collapsed and said “I’m sorry” several times on Wednesday as family members and court security came to help her during the opening of her son’s federal death penalty trial. Roof’s attorney mentioned the heart attack in court documents asking for a mistrial, saying a survivor’s testimony was so emotional that “spectators and even court personnel—including members of the prosecution and defense—were crying with her.”
The documents didn’t give the mother’s current condition.
Roof’s attorney argued that the testimony from shooting survivor Felicia Sanders was inappropriate because it contained a statement on what Roof’s sentence should be.
