Updated

The Latest on the formal sentencing of Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof to death (all times local):

10:15 a.m.

The woman whom Dylann Roof spared after killing nine people to tell the world the slaughter was because he hated blacks says she still holds on to the torn, bloodstained Bible she had that night.

Felicia Sanders said at Roof's formal sentencing hearing Wednesday that she forgave Roof because that was the easiest thing to do. But she said Roof has done nothing to help himself.

Sanders says she can't even close her eyes to pray because Roof started his shooting as Emanuel AME church members held their closing prayer.

Roof did not look at any of the family members, even one who demanded he look in his direction.

Roof will have a chance to speak later in the hearing.

___

10:05 a.m.

The jurors who sentenced Dylann Roof to death for killing nine worshippers at a Charleston church have asked the judge to return to the courtroom for the formal sentencing hearing.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel opened Wednesday's hearing saying the jury made the request when he went to thank them and dismiss them from service after they came to their verdict Tuesday.

Gergel cannot change the jury's death sentence, making Wednesday's sentencing a formality. Family members of victims will be able to speak to Roof directly, instead of just answering questions from prosecutors.

Gergel also granted a request from Roof to reappoint his attorneys for the hearing and said Roof also can speak.

Roof killed nine people during Bible study at Emanuel AME on June 17, 2015.

___

3:55 a.m.

The families of the nine black people killed and the three who survived a racist massacre inside a South Carolina church will get a chance to speak directly to the man convicted in the shooting.

A federal jury sentenced Dylann Roof to death Tuesday. But a judge has to formally accept the sentence Wednesday, even though he can't change it.

The families shattered by the June 17, 2015, shooting at Emanuel AME Church can speak at Wednesday's hearing, and they won't be limited to just answering the questions of prosecutors.

Roof had a chance to speak Tuesday before the jury deliberated a death sentence or life in prison. He didn't ask for his life to be spared. Instead, the 22-year-old avowed white supremacist told jurors he still feels like he had to kill the black worshippers.