Accused gunman in Charleston church shooting proposes guilty plea

By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - An attorney for the man accused of gunning down nine people at a historic black church in South Carolina in June said on Wednesday his client is willing to plead guilty to state murder charges if that would spare him a death sentence. A guilty plea by Dylann Roof, 21, in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without parole also would spare the victims' families and survivors of the shootings from the trauma of trial proceedings, Roof's attorney Bill McGuire said. Prosecutors declined to comment afterward on whether they would accept a guilty plea from Roof, who is white and has been linked to white supremacist views.

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