A Phoenix television station will hand over the footage it aired earlier this week of the second gunman in the Serial Shooter case being paraded around the jail in his underwear, an attorney for the station said today.
Phoenix media lawyer Dan Barr said Channel 3 (KTVK-TV) has agreed to honor a subpoena for the footage, sent to them by the defense attorney of confessed gunman Samuel Dieteman. The gunman was pulled from his cell in front of television cameras during a tour of the jail’s high-security unit, which was given to the station over the weekend by officials with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
Dieteman’s attorney, Maria Schaffer, called the footage “outrageous” and “undignified” on Wednesday as she criticized sheriff’s office — and Sheriff Joe Arpaio by name — for allowing her client to be filmed on the eve of his sentencing trial.
The sheriff’s office, however, said it did not intend for Dieteman specifically to be shown. The reason for the tour was that the sheriff’s office wanted to show that it was searching the high-security cells to quell supposed racial tensions.
Deputy Chief Jack MacIntyre told the Arizona Republic in an article published today: “We feel the reason that Channel 3 took it upon themselves to film Dieteman is because they recognized him.”
Barr said the footage will likely be handed over to Dieteman’s attorney today — one day ahead of the subpoena’s deadline.