Title : Dylann Roof's attorneys suspected he had autism, said he had 'blushing attacks'
link : Dylann Roof's attorneys suspected he had autism, said he had 'blushing attacks'
Dylann Roof's attorneys suspected he had autism, said he had 'blushing attacks'
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| Dylann Roof |
Attorneys representing Charleston church killer Dylann Roof told an examiner Roof suffered from "blushing attacks," believed his forehead is "too large and ugly" and likely suffered from autism, according to a recently unsealed evaluation that was conducted to see if Roof was mentally fit to stand trial.
The Nov. 15 report revealed extensive details involving Roof's past, including a drug history dating to when he was 12 years old and used marijuana 3 times a day. The report says Roof took Xanax 20 times when he was 13, although it's unclear over how much time. He also was treated for alcohol and marijuana as an outpatient from March 2009 through June 2009.
The report, unsealed Wednesday, was an evaluation ordered by presiding federal Judge Richard Gergel following a letter that Roof submitted to the prosecution claiming his attorneys were preparing to use a "lie that he was autistic" and that he disagreed with it. The evaluation delayed the start of the federal trial until December.
Other details revealed include that when Roof was arrested with a friend in 2010 - the report doesn't say why - they were so "extremely intoxicated" that Roof had to be evaluated and treated at a hospital. His attorneys said that Roof also allegedly told people that he had stopped using marijuana because it made him paranoid and hear voices.
Roof told his evaluators that he had suffered from perhaps one panic attack and previously had been placed on medication for anxiety, the report said. Yet, Roof's defense attorneys told the evaluator that Roof did not want pictures shown in court because he suffered from "blushing attacks."
"They describe that he has 'blushing attacks' when he is upset in public, and his 'whole body blushes, including his face, arms, and exposed areas,'" the report said. "One of their experts has suggested it is like panic attack. These attacks began when he was 16, and the triggers are not clear."
His attorneys also said Roof was obsessed with his appearance, primarily his forehead, which he felt was "too large and ugly." Roof's attorneys went on to say that they suspected he didn't push for the prosecution of the inmate who beat him while in jail because the picture taken of Roof after the attack required him to pull his hair back and expose his forehead to document injuries, the report said.
Other details shared in a different report from January revealed Roof did not want any mental health evidence introduced at his trial because he didn't want "any issue to take away from the rationale he had for committing his crimes."
At the time, Roof told evaluator Dr. James Ballenger that his (Roof's) lawyers "think he should primarily fight for his life and that be his number one priority, and he disagrees," wrote Ballenger in the Jan. 1 report to Gergel.
"He (Roof) said that he has only two options (death and life in prison), and they are both 'equally bad.' That is why preserving his reputation is the most important issue for him, not whether he receives the death penalty or life in prison," wrote James Ballenger, the court-appointed evaluator.
"He stated that if his reputation was ruined, ... that his 'life would be ruined.' He continues to feel that the only thing that is important to him is to protect his reputation," Ballenger wrote.
At the end of the report, Ballenger gave his opinion: Roof was competent to continue with his ongoing death penalty trial in the 2015 white supremacist slayings of nine innocent African-American church members at a historic Charleston church Bible study.
In December, a federal jury in Charleston had found Roof guilty of the killings. On Jan. 10, after 3 hours of deliberations, the jury gave an unremorseful Roof the death penalty.
Ballenger's Jan. 1 22-page report to the judge was one of hundreds of pages was unsealed Wednesday by Gergel. During the trial, Gergel kept numerous documents sealed to preserve Roof's right to a fair trial.
The process of unsealing has been time-consuming, in part because Roof and his lawyers had objections to much of the sealed record.
Source: thestate.com, May 11, 2017
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