Solicitor: Justice unlikely in federal church slayings trial

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A federal trial for the man charged in the slayings of nine black church members is unlikely to deliver the death penalty and he should be tried in state court first, where there is a better chance for capital punishment, a prosecutor said.

Dylann Roof, 22, faces possible death sentences in state court, where he is charged with murder, and in federal court, where he is charged with hate crimes and other counts.

"The federal government's track record suggests an unwillingness to carry out a death sentence," prosecutor Scarlett Wilson wrote in court documents filed late Tuesday.

"A federal trial may be unnecessary to achieve justice for Roof if a state trial results in a death sentence since the state sentence would be carried out before any federal sentence," the documents said.