a chum of the gunman accused of slaying nine black parishioners in a 2015 assault on a South Carolina church will plead guilty on Friday to lying to investigators and concealing know-how of the plan, courtroom documents display.
Joseph Meek, 21, plans to plead guilty to withholding records approximately against the law and making fake statements to government investigating the massacre in Charleston, consistent with files filed earlier this week.
underneath a plea settlement, he can be known as to testify towards his childhood friend Dylann Roof, 22, who has been accused of commencing fireplace in the course of a June 17 Bible elegance at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church.
Meek, who like Roof is white, is the only different person to be charged in reference to the shootings, which sparked extreme debate approximately race relations and gun control legal guidelines inside the america.
The plea listening to is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Friday before U.S. District choose Richard Gergel in Charleston. by cooperating with authorities, Meek will be spared the most sentence of 8 years in prison, four years of supervised release and more than $500,000 in fines.
survivors of the capturing, Felicia Sanders and Polly Sheppard, will attend the listening to, their attorney Andrew Savage said in an email.
“They recognize that he’s accepting duty for his failure to inform authorities of his buddy’s hateful remarks,” Savage stated.
Meek’s father instructed nearby reporters this week that his son become no longer within the incorrect and additionally turned into now not great buddies with Roof.
“in case you called 911 whenever anyone stated, ‘adequate i’m going to try this, do that,’ it’d be flooded with non-legit calls,” he told WIS-tv in South Carolina.
Roof faces 33 federal expenses which includes hate crimes, obstruction of faith and firearms offenses. government have accused him of keeping white supremacist perspectives, announcing he focused the sufferers due to their race.
defense legal professionals have said Roof would plead responsible if he did no longer face the possibility of execution. His federal trial has been time and again delayed even as U.S. prosecutors decide whether to are searching for the loss of life penalty.
country government are seeking capital punishment towards Roof, who is charged with nine counts of homicide as well as attempting to homicide 3 people who survived the rampage, in an ordeal scheduled to begin in January.
