Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Associated Press
CHARLESTON, S.C.
During a night of vodka, cocaine, marijuana and video games, Joey Meek listened as a childhood buddy confided that he hated blacks so much he was going to kill them at a Charleston church.
Meek said he thought his friend was all talk until a week later, when news broke of a deadly shooting rampage at Emanuel AME church. But instead of calling authorities, Meek talked another friend out of going to police and giving them Dylann Roof’s name. And then he lied to the FBI about his conversation with Roof.
For those crimes, Meek, 22, was sentenced Tuesday to more than two years in prison.
The punishment was handed down by the federal judge who presided at Roof’s trial, which ended in January with the avowed white supremacist sentenced to death for massacring nine black people as they bowed their heads in prayer at a Bible study session June 17, 2015.
Unlike Roof, Meek showed remorse for his crimes.
“I’m really, really sorry. A lot of beautiful lives were taken,” he said.
He cried as he told the judge he fears retribution behind bars: “I don’t know if I’ll make it out of prison alive.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel’s 27-month prison term was the minimum punishment under federal sentencing guidelines. The government wanted a stiffer sentence to make an example out of Meek and because he could have stopped the massacre.
In a deal with prosecutors, Meek pleaded guilty to concealment of a crime and lying to the FBI.
Meek was not charged for failing to tell police about the impending attack, since that is not a crime under federal law. Instead, he was prosecuted for stopping a friend immediately after the slaughter from calling the police to report Roof as a suspect.
The judge said Meek’s actions delayed Roof’s capture for hours, during which Roof could have massacred more people elsewhere.