aGameOfThrones
09-12-2014, 05:34 PM
Citing security concerns, a Utah federal judge is refusing to release courthouse surveillance footage that captured a US marshal killing a defendant during a gang-related trial.
The tape's existence, first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune Wednesday, came to public light five months after federal authorities who watched the tape cleared the marshal of wrong doing. The unidentified marshal shot defendant Saile Angilau four times as Angilau rushed a witness testifying against him during his racketeering jury trial.
The decision to keep the video under wraps by Chief Judge Ted Stewart comes amid a growing chorus of people across the nation calling for more video footage of police activity.
In the wake of the August 9 shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, politicians and the public want to outfit police forces with pager-sized surveillance cams on officers' vests that record everything the officers are seeing.
Ferguson police were just outfitted with 50 devices, and police departments across the nation are now toying with the idea.
Judge Stewart, however, said the security risks far outweighed the public value of the tape.
"To have the identity of the court staff, the jury, the security there—the probative value of having the tape for the public is so small compared to the security risk," D. Mark Jones, the clerk of the US District Court in Utah, told the Tribune.
There were plenty of witnesses on hand when Angilau was shot. But Robert Sykes, the attorney for the dead man's family, said the tape could even benefit law enforcement.
"I don't want to sue somebody for excessive force if it wasn't," Sykes said in a telephone interview. "I want to see that video."
Sykes said there were eyewitness discrepancies on whether the marshal shot the defendant even after he fell to the ground.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/09/judge-wont-release-surveillance-video-of-courthouse-cop-killing-defendant/
The tape's existence, first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune Wednesday, came to public light five months after federal authorities who watched the tape cleared the marshal of wrong doing. The unidentified marshal shot defendant Saile Angilau four times as Angilau rushed a witness testifying against him during his racketeering jury trial.
The decision to keep the video under wraps by Chief Judge Ted Stewart comes amid a growing chorus of people across the nation calling for more video footage of police activity.
In the wake of the August 9 shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, politicians and the public want to outfit police forces with pager-sized surveillance cams on officers' vests that record everything the officers are seeing.
Ferguson police were just outfitted with 50 devices, and police departments across the nation are now toying with the idea.
Judge Stewart, however, said the security risks far outweighed the public value of the tape.
"To have the identity of the court staff, the jury, the security there—the probative value of having the tape for the public is so small compared to the security risk," D. Mark Jones, the clerk of the US District Court in Utah, told the Tribune.
There were plenty of witnesses on hand when Angilau was shot. But Robert Sykes, the attorney for the dead man's family, said the tape could even benefit law enforcement.
"I don't want to sue somebody for excessive force if it wasn't," Sykes said in a telephone interview. "I want to see that video."
Sykes said there were eyewitness discrepancies on whether the marshal shot the defendant even after he fell to the ground.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/09/judge-wont-release-surveillance-video-of-courthouse-cop-killing-defendant/