COLUMBIA, S.C. — A petition recently filed by Dylann Roof, the man convicted of killing nine Black churchgoers during a bible study in Charleston a decade earlier, has been denied by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Roof had asked the court for a writ of mandamus to remove District Jude Richard M. Gergel from his case as he attempts to have his conviction and death sentence overturned. Roof alleged that Gergel, who presided over the original trial, showed bias against him.

However, a three-judge panel ruled that Roof's petition for mandamus to force an action in a lower court didn't meet the necessary threshold. Officials said this rare court action is only allowed when there are no other routes to relief, there is a clear and indisputable right to relief, and a court finds it approp

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