A federal judge Friday turned down media requests to release mug shots and search warrants in the case against Tucson, Ariz., shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner, accused of killing six people and wounding 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Loughner’s attorney, Judith Clarke, asked that the mug shots be sealed, arguing that releasing them served no public interest.

District Court Judge Larry Burns, assigned to hear the case, said he had no authority to order the release of the mug shots or to seal them.

Those decisions, he said, must be made by the U.S. Marshal’s office. A mug shot already released by the Pima County sheriff’s department shows the 22-year-old Loughner with shaved eyebrows and a smirky grin.

Burns said the search warrants, describing what authorities seized from the Tucson home where Loughner lived with his parents, might be released after March 9 when additional indictments are expected to be handed down against him in Arizona.

Loughner faces one charge of attempted assassination and two of attempted murder. He will likely face additional indictments in the death of a federal judge and another federal employee, charges that could carry the death penalty.

Burns was assigned the case after federal judges in Arizona recused themselves because a colleague, District Judge John Roll, was among those killed. No decision has been made on whether the case will be transferred to San Diego.

Clarke, a San Diego attorney, was assigned to the case because of her reputation as one of the nation’s best defense attorneys in high-profile cases where the defendant faces the death penalty.