9 life sentences for Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof

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Dylan Roof, convicted Charleston church massacre shooter, has been given 9 life sentences after he pleaded guilty to state murder charges Monday.

Roof now awaits execution in a federal prison, sparing his victims and their families the burden of a second trial.

9 life sentences for Dylan Roof

Reports say the 23-year-old proclaimed white supremacist had nothing to say in his defense at the hearing as he was sentenced on nine counts of murder, along with three charges of attempted murder and a weapons charge.

He was taken from court back to the Charleston County jail, where he’ll await transfer to a federal prison and, ultimately, the federal system’s death row in Terre Haute, Indiana.

ABC Reports:

“Roof’s plea deal came in exchange for an agreement that state prosecutors would drop their own pursuit of the death penalty against him for the June 2015 slaughter at Emanuel AME Church. Judge J.C. Nicholson handed down nine consecutive life sentences.

Roof stood at the defense table with his attorneys, clad in a gray and white striped jail jumpsuit and handcuffed to a chain at his waist.”

The deal serves as an “insurance policy” in the event that Roof’s federal conviction falls apart. But it also means the families of the nine people he killed don’t have to endure a second grueling trial.

Dylann Roof was 21-years-old when he walked into the historic church known as Mother Emanuel during a Wednesday night Bible study session. As witnesses testified in his federal trial last year, Roof waited until the session’s closing minutes to unload 77 shots into his victims as they shut their eyes in a final prayer.

Nadine Collier, daughter of the slain 70-year-old Ethel Lance, wore a white suit to Roof’s sentencing Monday; a color she said lets the world know a chapter in her life had closed.

“I will not open that book again,” she said to Roof, before he was sentenced. “I just want to say, have mercy on your soul.”