A federal judge granted San Diego news sources access to a video of the police shooting death of an unarmed mentally ill man. The judge wrote, “There is no evidence to suggest that the public dissemination of the information from this case currently limited by the protective order could meet this standard [establishing good cause] or that peremptory challenges and instructions to the jury would not be sufficient to obtain a fair and impartial jury.” The video was taken by a security camera. (Courthouse News Service, December 16, 2015, by Bianca Bruno)
A forum held in San Diego in October found panelists including an ACLU lawyer agreeing that in general police body-cam footage should remain out of the public domain but be seen in court. Audience members expressed concern that lack of transparency would slow elimination of racist police acts. (San Diego Union-Tribune, October 2, 2015, by Pauline Repard)