Charleston shooting suspect told when he will stand trial
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The man accused of killing nine people at a church in Charleston last month will stand trial next July.
Circuit Judge J.C. Nicholson set a July 11, 2016, trial date for Dylann Roof, who sat quietly during a 25-minute hearing Thursday morning.
Public defender Ashley Pennington said he would not seek any bond for Roof.
Roof faces nine counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and a weapons charge in the June 17 fatal shooting of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church.
Nicholson said he would have denied a request anyway, calling Roof a flight risk, noting he was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina, the day after the shootings. Roof hasn't entered a plea.
Attorneys for The Associated Press and other media organizations asked for the release of police records from the investigation. Nicholson said the records will not be released before July 22 in order to give prosecutors, defense attorneys and family members time to object.
Both the FBI and a county sheriff's department agency promise to review a series of mistakes that allowed Roof to get a gun he never should have been cleared to buy.
Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon told The Associated Press on Monday that a clerk at his jail entered in the incorrect location for Roof's drug arrest in February. That meant an FBI examiner using records from a state database couldn't find the details about the arrest when Roof wanted to buy a gun.
The background check found nothing after three days and Roof was eventually allowed to buy the .45-caliber handgun authorities say was used in the June 17 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston that killed nine people.
Last month, a law enforcement source told CBS News' Pat Milton that a .45 caliber gun was found in the car when Roof was arrested during a traffic stop the day after the shooting. Roof purchased the .45 caliber pistol with $400 his father gave him for his birthday, sources said.