Supreme Court rejects Dylann Roof's appeal in church murder case

Details: Roof asked for the Supreme Court to review his case after a lower federal appeals court denied a request to overturn his conviction and death sentence.

• The Supreme Court was asked to review how to handle disagreements between capital defendants and their attorneys over sharing evidence related to mental illness.
• The court did not state why it rejected the case.

Zoom in: According to the AP, Roof's side questioned what should happen when a capital defendant who is deemed mentally competent to stand trial disagrees with their attorneys over whether or not to share evidence depicting the defendant as mentally ill.

• Roof, who represented himself in the case after firing his legal team, attempted to block any evidence that showed him as mentally ill — even though his attorneys argued it may have helped him avoid the death penalty, AP reports.

The big picture: Roof can now seek other appeals in his sentence, according to AP. He is currently on federal death row at a maximum-security facility in Terre Haute, Indiana.

• Roof, who pleaded guilty in 2017, became the first person in the U.S. to receive a death sentence on federal hate crimes charges.

Go deeper: Dylann Roof asks appeals court to reconsider death sentence ruling