Roof also faces numerous state charges, including nine counts of murder.
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In an order issued at the beginning of September, Judge J.C. Nicholson scheduled arguments on whether to release the material stemming from the June 17 shootings of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church.
That announcement came in a hearing Wednesday morning over a gag order in the shooting case.
He said he would review the documents on a case-by-case basis along with attorneys and representatives for the victims and survivors.
Dispatcher recordings, 911 calls and police reports are routinely made available to the public in the USA after violent crimes.
“It may take years before people are ready to see that”, he said. State prosecutor Scarlett Wilson previously announced she would pursue the death penalty against Roof.
The Associated Press also reported that a friend of Roof’s is being investigated by federal authorities.
The judge expressed concern earlier that the right to a fair trial for Roof could be compromised by the release of some of that material.
Attorney Andy Savage said the release of the transcripts would “remove the emotion” of the calls, which was revealed in court recorded the moments of at least one victim’s death.
Officials say Dylann Roof is willing to plead guilty to murder charges for the Charleston Church Massacre in order to avoid the death penalty. Photos of Roof posing with the Confederate flag circulated on social media, leading to a vote by South Carolina’s legislature to remove the rebel flag from a memorial on the state capitol grounds.
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.
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Regarding 911 calls, the judge said “the sounds of people dying coming through on that tape are quite morbid”.
