The Latest: Dylann Roof's lawyers plan few, if any witnesses

Bruck says he may not call any witnesses during the guilt or innocence phase of the death penalty trial because there is little question Roof committed the slayings.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson told jurors during his opening statement in Roof's death penalty trial on Wednesday that the young white man must have appeared harmless to those attending a Bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015.

The 12 jurors who will hear the death penalty trial of Dylann Roof have been picked and will decide whether the white man killed nine black people in racially motivated attack at a Charleston church.

According to a reporter who observed the process, it appears that the panel is racially mixed.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel only allowed one pool reporter to watch the jury selection, and she said she couldn't immediately determine the racial makeup of the panel.

The final phase of jury selection is underway in the death-penalty trial of Dylann Roof, the white man accused of gunning down nine black parishioners during a Bible study at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, last year.

The federal jury selection process began last summer when about 3,000 potential jurors received jury summonses.

Jury selection and opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday in Dylann Roof's federal death penalty trial in Charleston.