As Charleston continues to mourn the nine victims who were shot while worshipping at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church church on Wednesday, politicians are calling for a tough sentence for the shooter Dylann Roof.
State Sen. Marlon E. Kimpson, echoed South Carolina governor Nikki Haley's call for a death sentence for 21-year-old Roof in a HuffPost Live conversation on Friday. Kimpson, who served on the state legislature with Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of the victims of the shooting, told host Marc Lamont Hill that the death penalty would be appropriate for the crime Roof has been accused of committing.
My personal opinion is I think he should receive the death penalty. I don't say that lightly. Death is a very serious thing and the ultimate penalty that you can pay, but in this case, that sentence would fit what he did. He is a thug, a criminal, a person that is filled with hate and it's just unimaginable the kind of grief and sorrow that this community is experiencing as a result.
Kimpson also grieved the loss of Pinckney, whom he called the "moral compass" of South Carolina's State Senate.
"We would go to him time and time again when we were at [an] impasse of major pieces of legislation and he would guide us," Kimpson said. "He will be dearly missed, but the state of South Carolina is better off because he lived."
Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation with State Sen. Kimpson here.
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