A Florida Judge Blocked a Newspaper from Publishing Video of a Jail Death

The Ocala Gazette says the footage contradicts the Marion County sheriff's claims about Scott Whitley's death. A judge won't let the paper publish the video.

A Florida newspaper reports that video of a mentally ill man's violent death in a county jail contradicts the sheriff office's narrative of what happened. But the public may never get to see what really happened.

Florida Circuit Judge James R. Baxley ruled last month that the Ocala Gazette could view, but not publish, jailhouse footage of the 2022 death of Scott Whitley, a mentally ill man who died in the Marion County Jail after deputies pepper-sprayed, dogpiled, and tased him. Publishing the footage, Baxley ruled, would raise safety concerns.

The Gazette reported on September 25, after finally being able to view the footage, that Whitley "exhibited no physical violence toward Marion County Jail detention deputies before he was rushed to the floor, restrained and hit with a Taser 27 times over 12 minutes." Furthermore, "Contrary to initial reports from the sheriff's office that claimed Whitley refused to comply with guards' orders, the footage shows the inmate sitting as ordered and, when he sees the guards rush towards him, he raises his hands in defense and pleads 'no' and 'wait'—to no avail."

The order is the latest development in a two-years-and-running transparency fight over records related to Whitley's death.

Whitley, 46, was booked into the Marion County Jail on November 16, 2022, on charges of resisting an officer with violence and violating a protective order filed by his elderly parents to remove him from their home because of his deteriorating mental health. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was placed on suicide watch in the jail. According to the Marion County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), he was combative during his arrest and continued to be uncooperative and aggressive at the jail.

On November 25, Whitley refused to put his hands through his cell to be handcuffed during a routine cell inspection. Guards sprayed him with pepper foam, and after a few minutes they ordered Whitley to sit on the toilet. When he did, deputies rushed his cell and forced him to the ground.

The Ocala Gazette describes what happened next: 

The guards managed to get him face down on the ground, get a hold of his arms and legs, and continue to tase him. Whitley was no longer resisting them, but continued to scream "please," and asked the guards to stop tasing him.

About two minutes passed and the guards continued to attempt to put Whitley into handcuffs while they deployed tasers. Four guards had their body weight on top of Whitley's back as they held him down. He was being tased simultaneously by at least two guards who were standing at his head and feet.

The pepper foam deployed caused Whitley and the guards to cough throughout the entirety of the incident. Whitley continuously screamed in pain and pleaded with the guards and asked them to stop.

At about 7:07 a.m., Whitley could be heard screaming, "Please, somebody help me." At this point, the tasing stopped as both of his arms were handcuffed about 30 seconds later. A guard outside the cell offered the deputies another taser, which they declined.

The guards put Whitley in handcuffs and leg irons, shoved a spit mask over his head, and continued to hold him down for several minutes until he stopped breathing. When they discovered he was unconscious, they dragged him out of his cell and waited six minutes to call 911.

Whitley's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2023 after viewing the footage. The suit argued that the MCSO used excessive force and violated Whitley's 14th Amendment rights.

According to the lawsuit, "Scotty suffered from multiple blunt force traumas to the head, neck, torso, and extremities, and deep tissue hemorrhaging." A medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.

In the meantime, media were trying to uncover what exactly happened to Whitley. On the same day as Whitley's death, the Ocala Gazette filed a records request for surveillance footage from his cell. The MCSO denied the request, citing an exemption to Florida's Sunshine Law that protects footage that would reveal the safety vulnerabilities of buildings like jails.

Reason also filed a public records request for the footage. The MCSO denied it on identical grounds.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office also invoked Marsy's Law, a statute intended to protect the privacy of crime victims, to hide the identities of six of the jail deputies involved in Whitley's death. The MCSO claimed the deputies were in fact victims of crimes Whitley had inflicted on them.

"In particular, based upon my review of the available evidence at this juncture, it appears that Mr. Whitley committed the crimes of resisting an officer with violence, in violation of §843.01, Fla. Stat. (2022), and battery (or attempted battery) on a law enforcement officer, in violation of §784.07(2)(b), Fla. Stat. (2022),' an attorney for MCSO wrote.

The conservative Florida Supreme Court issued a surprising ruling last November that Marsy's Law did not protect the names of law enforcement officers.

The Gazette filed a public records suit earlier this year seeking surveillance footage of Whitley's death. Whitley's sister, Pamela Whitley, testified in support of the newspaper at a court hearing last month.

"It was barbaric. I saw it with my own two eyes," she said. "They repeatedly kept tasing him and also pepper sprayed and he was pleading for help. I don't know how more compliant you can be when you're sitting on a toilet completely naked with your hands up saying, 'Wait.'"

A spokesperson for the MCO applauded the judge's ruling.

"In regards to the judge's decision, we do agree that, according to Florida law, it should not be public," the spokesperson says via email. "Any camera systems or related security features within a jail, are protected from public view for obvious reasons."

The spokesperson also denied that the video contradicts the MCSO's original claims about Whitley's death.

"What is not reported on in the Gazette story is the fact that Mr. Whitley had resisted officers' efforts to conduct cell inspections," the spokesperson continues. "These deputies conducted cell inspections throughout the entire pod[,] however, Mr. Whitley refused to comply. The deputies continued to conduct the remaining cell inspections and returned to Mr. Whitley's last. He refused to come to the door to be cuffed up for the inspection, so the deputies entered. He resisted being handcuffed and would not comply. It took multiple deputies to control the 6'2", 300 lb  man. Prior to this, he had made an escape attempt in the jail. And when he was arrested at his parent's home, he became very violent with deputies and had to be sprayed with pepper spray and a taser was deployed before multiple deputies could get him in handcuffs. In short, the Gazette left out key components of this story and offered only a narrow view into the incident(s)."

James Slater, an attorney representing the Gazette, disagrees. He says the newspaper's reporting confirms what Whitley's family described when they viewed the same footage prior to filing their lawsuit: Whitley may not have initially complied, but after he was pepper-sprayed he followed orders to sit on the toilet in his cell.

"Despite complying with those commands, he was fatally attacked by deputies. Staff then waited at least 6 minutes after Scotty's limp and lifeless body was dragged out of the cell before calling emergency services," Slater says. "Despite the Gazette's reporting, the Sheriff still inaccurately maintains that Scotty Whitley resisted and did not comply with orders. This is all the more reason why the public deserves to see what really happened to Scotty Whitley."

The story also illustrates the importance of local news outlets. The MCSO settled the lawsuit by Whitley's family for $150,000, and the local state attorney's office declined to file charges against the deputies following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that concluded the deputies "conducted themselves appropriately."  Without the Ocala Gazette's reporting, the MCSO's narrative of Whitley's death would have stood as the official, undisputed record.

The Gazette is challenging the do-not-publish order.