- Alex Friedmann was once charged with vandalism of the Downtown Detention Facility in 2020
- He’s accused of stealing keys and hiding weapons and blades within the facility.
- The jury deliberated an hour sooner than returning their verdict.
Alex Friedmann is accountable of vandalism. His legal professional stated so, prosecutors stated so, and the jury agreed after paying attention to 3 days of testimony and observing hours of video surveillance.
Friedmann, 53, was once charged with legal vandalism after impersonating a development contractor, stealing two keys and hiding 3 firearms and a lot of blades within the partitions of the Downtown Detention Facility whilst it was once nonetheless below development in 2019.
The jury deliberated for an hour sooner than returning a accountable verdict for vandalism with damages within the quantity of $250,000. The crime is a Magnificence A legal and Friedmann faces between 25 and 40 years in jail.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Corridor referred to as the incident a “planned, evil” plan and stated all the way through the trial that he was once positive there would were large lack of existence if that contraband have been found out via inmates.
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“To have any individual like this pass in and manipulate the device and compromise everyone’s private protection is completely unacceptable, and I am able for justice to be served,” Corridor stated.
Friedmann, a Nashville felony justice recommend, may be going through a federal trial subsequent month in reference to the case.
Officials found out in December 2019 {that a} repairs key ring was once other from others in the important thing regulate room and shortly realized two keys have been lacking — a common motion key and a kitchen padlock key. Video photos published that Friedmann have been within the regulate room, pocketed a collection of keys and got rid of them from the power for 2 hours sooner than returning maximum of them.
Additional photos confirmed Friedmann bringing gear into the power, overlaying up safety cameras and again and again returning to quite a lot of spaces of the detention middle greater than 20 occasions between August 2019 and when he was once stuck in January 2020.
The DCSO changed 1,800 locks after the break-in and not on time opening the power for a number of months. Government estimated the price to modify the ones locks, and hard work to study hundreds of hours of video photos, was once greater than $600,000.
In ultimate arguments, Deputy District Lawyer Amy Hunter stated the sheriff’s place of work had two choices.
“Both tear down all of the development or change all of the keys,” she stated. “It was once now not a troublesome selection for them.”
From the start, Ben Raybin, Friedmann’s legal professional, argued the state was once overcharging his shopper. He stated the legislation is twofold — there first must be evidence of wear and tear, after which the price of that harm must be made up our minds.
The wear was once by no means in dispute. Friedmann dug into the partitions and concealed guns there. He did vandalize the power, however Raybin argued he by no means broken the keys or broken the locks. The fee to modify the locks and to study the video photos, the legal professional stated, was once a “collateral price” and now not coated below the legislation.
“Why did they’ve to modify the locks?” Raybin requested. “As a result of they have been got rid of, now not as a result of they have been broken.”
Deputy District Lawyer Roger Moore stated regardless of which means the prices are dissected, they met the weight of evidence that there was once $250,000 in damages.
“As soon as the keys have been got rid of, from that time on, what was once the affordable factor for the sheriff to do at that time?” Moore requested. “What we will turn out is that he compromised, tampered and broken that facility. Used to be there some other affordable selection? No.”
Touch Tennessean reporter Kirsten Fiscus at 615-259-8229 or [email protected]. Practice her on Twitter @KDFiscus.
