TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — Inside a Hillsborough County Courtroom Tuesday, Raheem Fulton sat before a Judge, accused of brutally attacking a detention facility deputy while he was in the Faulkenberg Jail.
The State Attorney calls it the most brutal jailhouse attack she's seen in her career.
But instead of being there to discuss his pre-trial detention hearing, the conversation Tuesday morning surrounded news media access to a critical piece of evidence both prosecutors and Fulton's attorneys want shown: the video of the attack.
Tuesday morning, Judge Logan Murphy ruled that journalists will now be able to view and report on that video from the courtroom.
"What I am going to say is that my disposition is twofold. It is first that the motion is being denied, but it's also that we're not going to be watching the video in court today, because in order to provide the sheriff an opportunity for rehearing or to appeal," he said.
HCSO has released jailhouse surveillance of attacks on deputies in the past. We found videos of attacks in 2022, 2020, and 2017. They're all on the agency's social media accounts right now.
However, in this case, HCSO has asked the court to bar journalists from inside the courtroom as the video plays, although members of the public are allowed.
In the motion, the sheriff objected to "the release of any and all video camera surveillance footage from inside the jail, because any such videos are privileged and confidential" under Florida's Public Records Law.
46522880-Motion for Order by ABC Action News
ABC Action News hired an attorney to fight that motion, as we believe it's our right to fully and accurately report on this story by being inside the courtroom throughout the proceedings.
In the judge's motion denying the Sheriff's request, he does give the Sheriff a chance to present a different argument.
"Though the Sheriff and the media agree that this type of video falls within the protected category of security system records under Chapter 119," the motion reads. "Chapter 119 does not apply to the Sheriff's motion, and he has failed to articulate any basis under Rule 2.420 or Barron to shield the video from public view or to exclude the media from the pretrial detention hearing."
The video will remain sealed until November 6.
A South Tampa man turned to Susan Solves It after he said ADT told him he had to keep paying for a security system at his Hurricane Helene-damaged home, even though the system was so new that he never had a day of service.
