JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A judge has ordered the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to hand over critical evidence in Charles Faggart’s death to his family and their attorneys, a ruling the family is calling a “huge victory.”
Judge Michael Sharritt ruled the evidence should be released, but only to the Faggart family and their attorneys. The evidence includes video from inside the Duval County jail on the day of the incident and unedited reports the sheriff’s office made immediately afterward.
“Today is the first step towards justice for Charles,” family attorney Belkis Plata said.
Plata described the ruling as 18 months in the making and said it was very emotional for both her and Faggart’s family.
READ: Judge orders JSO to turn over reports, video of Charles Faggart’s death in the Duval County Jail
“Literally the dad like just sat beside me as the judge is pronouncing his order or his ruling, crying because he knows that he will now be able to see what happened to his son. And I imagine it’s not gonna be pretty. But dad is prepared for that because he wants to know,” Plata said.
Faggart was killed inside the Duval County jail in April 2025. Following his death, nine corrections employees were removed from their positions and stripped of their corrections authority.
The State Attorney’s Office launched an investigation, but the case was turned over to the FBI in September 2025. Questions about how Faggart died remain unanswered.
In April 2026, Plata sued JSO to release the evidence to the public. The lawsuit states, “Defendants have refused to provide unredacted incident reports and video footage from inside the jail.”
JSO argued it could not release the information because the evidence was part of an active FBI investigation. In a court filing, the sheriff’s office said the unredacted incident reports and jail surveillance video are exempt under a Florida law covering “active criminal investigative information.”
Michelle Suskauer, an attorney not affiliated with the case and a former president of the Florida Bar, called the ruling “a tough balancing act” and said this type of case is not something you see every day.
“This is a very, very tragic situation,” Suskauer said.
Suskauer said the court “kind of split the baby,” not allowing the information to be widely distributed and making “a very, very limited disclosure to the family and to the family’s counsel.”
Plata said the evidence will help the Faggart family determine whom to file lawsuits against, but if it is not released publicly, her ability to file those suits will be limited. She said they intend to file with the court to explain why they believe the evidence should be made public and hope the judge will decide in a couple of weeks.
Asked how the judge may rule on that request, Suskauer said, “It’s hard to speculate because if there is an open investigation, the court’s going to want to hear from who is continuing the investigation.”
“I can’t guess as to what the court’s going to do because the court is gonna have to listen to all sides and make a tough decision,” she said.
Action News Jax reached out to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office around 1 p.m. for its response to the judge’s ruling and to ask whether it plans to comply. As of 6 p.m., the sheriff’s office had not responded.
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