S.C. church shooter's lawyers ask for dismissal of federal charges

CHARLESTON, S.C., July 6 (UPI) -- Lawyers for Dylann Roof are seeking a dismissal of federal charges, saying the case against him is unconstitutional and should be left to state authorities.

Roof, 21, faces concurrent federal and South Carolina charges as the suspected killer of nine African Americans who were shot to death at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston on June 17, 2015.

The 33-count federal indictment against him takes precedence over the state case, but Tuesday defense attorney Sarah Gannett argued the federal government does not have the authority to try Roof. She cited the Commerce Clause and the Fifth and Thirteenth Amendments, and argued the case should be left to the state.

Roof was arrested in North Carolina the day after the shooting, returned to South Carolina and charged with offenses relating to the deaths of nine people and the injuring of three more. Federal officials later charged him with similar crimes, as well as obstruction of religious exercise resulting in death, hate crime acts resulting in death, and use of a firearm in connection with a crime of violence resulting in death.

"The charges at issue are extremely grave, but under the Constitution they are not properly charged," argued Gannett on Tuesday. "The defendant therefore requests that the indictment be dismissed."

Roof's federal trial is scheduled to begin in November, and the state trial is set for January 2017. In each case, prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty