The Latest: Stiff sentence sought for Dylann Roof's friend

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Latest on the church shooting that killed nine people in South Carolina in April 2015 (all times local):

4:10 p.m.

Federal prosecutors want a stiff sentence for a friend of Dylann Roof who didn't report Roof's plans to kill black church worshippers in South Carolina.

In court papers filed Monday, prosecutors said Joey Meek knew the full scope of Roof's hatred and desire to start a race war by killing people inside an AME church in Charleston.

Prosecutors say Meek needs a harsher punishment than what's in federal guidelines to serve as an example and to fully account for the horrible nature of Roof's massacre.

The court papers don't specify the guidelines for Meek's sentence, but they appear to land between about 2 ½ and 3 ½ years in prison. The maximum sentence is eight years.

Meek's lawyer, Deborah Barbier, filed a sealed motion on his sentencing Monday. She wouldn't comment on it.

___

12:20 p.m.

Nearly a month after returning a death sentence against Dylann Roof for a racist church massacre, the jurors in his case visited the house of worship for a Sunday service.

In a newspaper opinion piece, the 18 jurors and alternates said Emanuel AME pastor the Rev. Eric Manning identified them only as "civil servants" at the Feb. 5 service. They signed the piece using only their first names.

They also went to the fellowship hall where Roof killed nine black worshippers at a June 2015 Bible study.

They said it was surreal yet also therapeutic to see children playing and church members socializing where they had seen only horror in photos and videos during the trial.

The piece was published Sunday in the Post and Courier of Charleston (http://bit.ly/2lOszB8).