Protesters rallied outside of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office headquarters on April 13, 2025 in response to the in-custody death of Charles Faggart, who died after he was beaten by jailers, according to his family’s attorney. | Malcolm Jackson for The Tributary

The parents of Charles Faggart, the 31-year-old father who died after a clash with guards in the Duval County jail 18 months ago, will be allowed to view a long-secret video from inside the jail that shows his final conscious moments, a Duval County judge ruled Wednesday.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has refused to disclose the video and has only released a heavily redacted incident report about Faggart’s death, some details of which were contradicted by UF medical records The Florida Trib obtained last year.

“We’re past the point in time where this family is in need of and deserves some answers,” Circuit Judge Michael Sharrit said after the hour-long hearing. Faggart’s parents were visibly emotional during the ruling.

The ruling is a partial win for Faggart’s father’s legal team, who filed a petition to force JSO to hand over the video from inside the jail, the unredacted incident report, and other materials.

The judge Wednesday ruled to confidentially share the video and full incident report but left open the issue of releasing the video to the public.

“A large weight has been lifted off their shoulders. They’ve been waiting for all of this almost two years for just a semblance of truth of what happened to their child. That’s all they’ve ever wanted,” said Belkis Plata, a member of Faggart’s legal team.

Faggart’s death after an incident at Jacksonville’s jail remains unexplained. He arrived at UF Health April 7, 2025 unresponsive but did not have fentanyl in his system or suffer a seizure, contradicting details released by JSO, according to previous Trib reporting. A stun gun barb was embedded in his back, and medical records show that he suffered multiple fractures on his face and ribs, bruises throughout his body, and serious damage to his kidneys and liver.

Charles Faggart.

The next day, medical providers discussed that he was likely brain dead.

His mother, father, and mother of his now-9-year-old child were present at Wednesday’s evidentiary hearing.

During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Coolican testified that a federal investigation is ongoing and said releasing the video to the public could cause harm. 

“If those facts were disclosed publicly to possible witnesses subject to the investigation, they could coordinate their testimony, making it less reliable, possibly making it false,” Coolican said. “They could also potentially destroy evidence.”

However, the city’s witness declined to discuss specifics, which the judge called self-limiting testimony. 

Both sides have 10 days to submit proposed orders on whether to release the records to the public.

“So much in prison and jails across this country happens in darkness,” said attorney James Slater, from Faggart’s legal team. “It’s important, not just that the family knows what happened to their son, but that everyone in the city, in the county knows what’s going on in our jail.”

Molly Farrar is a Report for America corps member and The Florida Trib’s Jacksonville municipal watchdog reporter. She can be reached at molly.farrar@floridatrib.org.

Molly Farrar covers accountability and policy in the consolidated city-county government of Jacksonville for The Florida Trib. Before joining us as a Report for America corps member, Farrar worked as a staff writer for Boston.com with the Boston Globe, WHDH Channel 7, and as a freelance reporter in the Greater Boston area covering local politics. Her news and transportation reporting won regional awards, and Farrar was selected as a First Amendment Institute Fellow with the New England First Amendment Coalition. Her investigative work on criminal justice and prisons was published in GBH News and The Intercept. Her stories have also appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Boston Globe. Farrar graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism and cello performance, where she also served as editor-in-chief of the Daily Free Press, the independent student newspaper. You can reach Molly at molly.farrar@floridatrib.org.