Is convicted church shooter Dylann Roof hoping to die a martyr? No plans to call witnesses in penalty phase

Brett T. | 4:20 PM on December 28, 2016

As Twitchy reported, a jury on Dec. 15 convicted Dylann Roof on all 33 counts in the federal indictment against him in connection with the 2015 massacre of nine worshippers at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston.

The penalty phase gets underway Tuesday, and Roof, who chose to represent himself at trial, doesn’t seem to be doing anything to avoid execution. He has said he will neither call witnesses nor present evidence.

Church shooter Dylann Roof won’t call witnesses or present evidence in punishment phase of his death penalty trial: https://t.co/4We0lFmI7x

— WDTN (@WDTN) December 28, 2016

White supremacist Dylann Roof faces the death penalty, but doesn't plan to say anything in his own defence https://t.co/WWkxcCWQz5

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) December 28, 2016

BREAKING: Dylann Roof tells judge he won't call witnesses or present evidence to try to spare his life for church massacre.

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 28, 2016

dude must be eager to get to hell

— na (@onlinerailbird) December 28, 2016

Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press notes that Roof, against the recommendation of defense attorneys, will not call mental health experts to testify on his behalf either, having written in a journal that he believes psychology is “a Jewish invention” that “does nothing but invent diseases.”

Roof has also asked the judge not to release to the jury several things that were presented in closed hearings, including videotaped interviews and statements made by his mother. In short, it appears he’ll make no effort to talk his way out of the death penalty.

The public is divided over which is worse — death, or life in prison — and is hoping for whichever option is more painful in the long run.