“ The Advocate is publishing a portion of the video from before the attack. “ The Advocate will never publish video of the Pulse massacre, even if it's a public record, because we believe the violence would only further victimize and endanger LGBT people,” said Lucas Grindley, editor in chief of the magazine. The Advocate chose to release the early part of the video showing Mateen inside the club before the shooting, but will not release video of Mateen in the commission of his crime. Yesterday, he issued a public plea on Facebook for media not to air unedited surveillance video. It passed in the state House but didn’t get through the Senate. Guillermo Smith supported a bill in the Florida legislature this year that would have barred the public release of images depicting the murder of individuals in a mass shooting. “This is just disgusting for them to have to be subject to.” “This community has been forced to relive this gruesome tragedy multiple times in multiple ways in the last 21 months,” he says. That release, though, can re-traumatize victims of a crime, Guillermo Smith says, and the Pulse community has endured that repeatedly, whether it was the release of 911 calls or police bodycam footage, in the nearly two years since the June 2016 shooting. And the Supreme Court has long recognized the press as a means of disseminating to the public what goes on in criminal trials.” The public has an extremely strong interest in making sure the guilty are properly convicted and the innocent are properly released.
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“We believe a public trial ensures a fair trial.
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“Everyone has a constitutional right to a free trial,” Nelson says. Jen Nelson, a staff attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, says the public release of evidence should be respected especially in criminal cases where citizens get put on trial by the government. “It doesn’t add much other than shock.”īut media advocates say there are larger principles at play. But he doesn’t see benefit in making video available for public consumption. He understands why the evidence was presented in trial and can appreciate the public interest. “I don’t think I need to relive what I saw very vividly the first time and see frequently in my nightmares,” he says. Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Pulse shooting, says he will avoid any broadcast of the surveillance tape. Of course, just because everyone can see evidence doesn’t mean everyone wants to. “Then the public can draw their own conclusion from the weight of the evidence.” “There’s a long history in this country that courtroom proceedings are considered to be open, and that evidence is everyone’s evidence,” says Michael Barfield, a Florida-based public records expert. Defenders of public access say that remains a critical part in keeping trials fair.
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Prosecutors showed the video in open court Thursday during a trial for Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, who faces life in prison if convicted of aiding a terrorist and obstructing justice.Įxhibits have become available for download by authorized media roughly 24 hours after being published in court. The video pixelates images of individuals in the club besides Mateen, but footage of the shooter remains clear, and as he shoots individuals who drop to the ground, there’s little disguising the events taking place.Īll video from the club has been unavailable to the public because it was part of an ongoing criminal investigation. From there, it shows Mateen shooting clubgoers and continues through the standoff with police where Mateen ultimately died. and goes to a vehicle to retrieve a Sig Sauer semi-automatic rifle and a Glock pistol. then sitting at the main bar and looking around at the crowded gay club. The timeline video depicts shooter Omar Mateen walking into Pulse around 1:41 a.m. “There is nothing that can come from showing that video to the public.” “I get anxiety just thinking about watching the video, and I wasn’t even there,” says Guillermo Smith, an out lawmaker who has interacted closely with survivors of the shooting.
Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando) says images depicting the murder of 49 innocent individuals at Pulse should never be available for wider viewing. But the release of that footage for the first time upsets some of those close to the tragedy, and at least one Florida official says the images should never have been released for public consumption. Today, media outlets could download and publish that video to the public at large. Those in an Orlando federal courtroom on Thursday for a trial involving the 2016 Pulse shooting saw surveillance images of the crime in progress.