phase, watching this very, very closely. what he says to the jury, there s nothing wrong with me psychologically, anything you ve heard from my lawyers forget it, what affect does that have on a jury? well, you know, i think this is the equivalent of watching a legal suicide being committed by a defendant in a criminal case. he is represented by one of the top death penalty defense lawyers in the country who he has chose erj to fire in the death penalty phase of the case. i mean, he is still involved, but not speaking to the jury. and dillon roof is giving a crazy statement to the jury, which i think will result in his conviction. it s the first time i ve seen a defendant do this in such a detrimental way.
under our law, the standard for competency to go to trial or even to represent one self, at least in the noncapital cases, if you know what the judge does, the prosecution does, if you know what the defense does, you can have a serious mental illness but you can still be found competent to represent yourself and stand trial. george, this idea that he is standing there in that courtroom representing himself in the death penalty phase of this federal hate crimes trial, how unprecedented is that? this is a very rare event. i ve been doing this work for almost four decades now and i think i ve seen maybe a handful of these in four decades. they are flying without gps now. the supreme court has never said in a capital case the defendant can waive all legal representation at the punishment phase and it s a very troubling
charleston church shooter dylan roof is set to start tomorrow. the judge ruled that roof is mentally competent to represent himself during the sentencing phase. last month a jury convicted roof on all 33 charges stemming from the 2015 massacre at the emanuel ame church. roof killed the nine black church members in a racially motivated attack. spacex expected to resume rocket launches five days from now. the company says it will use revised operational practices to launch its falcon nine rocket from california on january 8th. spacex suspended flights after a similar rocket went up in flames last september during a prelaunch test at cape canaveral. a problem with the helium tank caused that blast. president-elect trump calling on chicago city leaders to ask for federal help. the violence in that city is out of control and under a microscope. the city ended 2016 with a staggering 762 homicides.
2015 will be able to represent himself? martin savidge live outside the courtroom. good morning. reporter: good morning. most of us were celebrating and ringing in the new year over the weekend, we understand 22-year-old dylann roof was undergoing another psychiatric evaluation, this one ordered by the federal judge after the public defender, i guess you can call him the stand-by attorney for dylann roof since he says he ll represent himself as we move into the death penalty phase. the public defender saying he s not competent, especially now. the judge and the defense say in their words this is an incredibly sensitive moment of this proceeding. the trial before, a that found him guilty of over 30 counts was one thing. now we move into what is literally life or death here, and the decision by this jury will determine whether dylann roof goes to prison for the rest of his life or whether he is
that dn krrc hack. now the head of hillary clinton s campaign is ripping into the fbi, calling for an official investigation. while ivanka, she s at work. the future first daughter already calling members of congress, pushing her child care agenda. the big question is, what will her role really be? and a guilty verdict. dylann roof convicted on all 33 counts, including murder. a cathartic moment for those victims. thought he was starting a race war. look what love conquered. now the dramatic death penalty phase begins and dylann roof could act as his own lawyer. plus, getting real about fake news. facebook announces a new program to flag fake stories, but will it actually work? we re going to begin this morning with president obama. he s talking tough against russia, calling on republicans and democrats to stand up to vladimir putin and vowing to strike back. here s what he said on npr.