Guy Who Knew Dylann Roof's Plan Is Sentenced

Joey Meek failed to report crime
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 21, 2017 2:02 PM CDT
Dylann Roof's Friend Gets 27 Months
In this June 18, 2015 frame from video Joey Meek, friend of Dylann Roof who is accused of killing nine black church members during Bible study on June 17 in Charleston , S.C., speaks to The Associated Press.   (APTN via AP)

The only person with whom Dylann Roof shared his racist plot to massacre worshippers at a historically black South Carolina church was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison for failing to report a crime and for lying to the FBI. Joey Meek cried at sentencing Tuesday in Charleston by the same federal judge who presided over Roof's trial, which ended in January with Roof being sentenced to death for the slaughter of nine people at Emanuel AME church. "I'm really, really sorry. A lot of beautiful lives were taken," said Meek, per the AP. Meek had faced 27 to 33 months behind bars. US District Judge Richard Gergel said he hoped the sentence would serve as a deterrent for anyone in the future who learns of something so serious and fails to come forward to authorities.

Meek said Roof shared his plan to shoot blacks at the historic African-American church in Charleston during a night at Meek's house where they drank vodka, snorted cocaine, smoked marijuana, and played video games. Authorities said that was about a week before the June 17, 2015, killings. Meek signed a deal with prosecutors in 2016, agreeing to plead guilty to lying to authorities and failure to report a crime. Federal prosecutors said he had lied to the FBI by first denying Roof shared his plan. Authorities said he also had stopped a friend from calling police after hearing about the shooting to report Roof as a suspect. Meek agreed to help prosecutors as part of his 2016 deal. But they never called him during Roof's trial, in which Roof acted as his own lawyer for much of the proceedings and put up almost no defense. (More Dylann Roof stories.)

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