CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) – The brother of a slain Episcopal priest, a 1997 murder that police said remains a cold case, wants to hear a judge’s fantasy tape that has led to an open records dispute in court.

Thomas Davis, 52, said he is “very curious” why the slaying of his brother, the Rev. Charles Martin “Marty” Davis, has been linked to the recording made by then-Circuit Judge John Hagler.

Thomas Davis said Hagler, who resigned last month when confronted about the embarrassing recording of his voice, should release the tape.

“I’m asking the judge specifically for justice,” Davis told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “Judge, we need to know. If it’s your brother or son, you would want to know. We’ve waited a long time. Just allow us to rest.”

A chancery court judge said after a hearing Thursday that the tape would not be released to the public pending his decision on Hagler’s request to keep it private. Hagler received a copy of the recording.

Chattanooga police testified that the recording described torture, and they said they are keeping it as evidence in the 1997 slaying. Police said Hagler is not a suspect.

A former secretary to the judge who took the recording to police and has heard portions of it testified that Hagler and the slain priest were acquainted and she thought of the 1997 slaying when she heard it.

Born in Cleveland, the 35-year-old Episcopal priest was shot multiple times in his Chattanooga home on July 16, 1997. He was chair of a gay ministry, Integrity.

“Would I like to know if there is something there that could help solve the case of my brother’s death? Yes, because there was no reason for Marty to die,” his brother said.

Davis said his brother was known for ministering in inner-city neighborhoods that others feared to visit.

“He spent his short life trying to help others, and those who knew him know that,” Davis said.

Davis said his family had attended St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland. The church Web site shows Hagler to be an adult Bible study class teacher.

“Whatever it is (on the tape), it’s bad enough for (Mr. Hagler) to evidently not want it out, and evidently the police ... feel there is some pertinent stuff there,” the slain priest’s brother said.

The Rev. George Glazier, who was rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Chattanooga and a neighbor of Marty Davis in 1997, told the newspaper that “obviously there is something that connects” the killing with Hagler’s tape. Glazier said it should be made public to help solve the crime.

“With the case so cold, anything that sheds light on who did it is worth looking into,” said Glazier, who now is rector at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio.