Dylann S. Roof, who is accused of killing nine people during a racially motivated assault last June at a Charleston, S.C., church, will face two death penalty trials after the Justice Department said Tuesday that it would seek his execution.
“Following the department’s rigorous review process to thoroughly consider all relevant factual and legal issues, I have determined that the Justice Department will seek the death penalty,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement about the case against Mr. Roof, who was arrested less than a day after the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historic and predominantly black congregation.
“The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm,” Ms. Lynch continued, “compelled this decision.”
In a separate seven-page filing in Federal District Court in Charleston, prosecutors cited nine aggravating factors, including that Mr. Roof had “expressed hatred and contempt towards African-Americans, as well as other groups, and his animosity towards African-Americans played a role in the murders charged in the indictment.”
The prosecutors also wrote that Mr. Roof had “demonstrated a lack of remorse” and that he had “targeted men and women participating in a Bible study group at the church in order to magnify the societal impact” of the attack.
Two defense lawyers, David I. Bruck and Michael O’Connell, declined to comment on Tuesday.
Last year, a federal grand jury returned a 33-count indictment against Mr. Roof, who was accused of hate crimes, weapons charges and obstructing the practice of religion.
He is also facing murder charges in a state court, and the local prosecutor, Scarlett A. Wilson, said last September that she would seek the death penalty.
Whether Mr. Roof, 22, should be executed has been a matter of some debate in South Carolina, where some family members of the victims publicly forgave the suspected gunman just two days after the shooting.
Although Gov. Nikki R. Haley has called for Mr. Roof to be put to death, others said they wanted to avoid the pain of a trial and the potential for protracted appeals.
Mr. Bruck said last summer that Mr. Roof was willing to enter a guilty plea in exchange for a sentence of life in prison. But until Tuesday, 15 days before lawyers were scheduled to discuss the case in open court, it was not clear how the Justice Department would proceed.
A date for Mr. Roof’s federal trial has not been set. His state court trial is expected to begin in January.