Hiding guns in a jail while it's being built? Someone call Hollywood

Nashville Tennessean
·1 min read

Good morning, friends. This is storytelling columnist Brad Schmitt, and what a helluva story I have to tell you.

A few years back, when the new Metro jail was being built, a criminal justice advocate posed as a construction worker, stole some keys and hid guns throughout, authorities said.

All of this was so the advocate, Alex Friedman, could pull off a "deliberate, evil" plan for prisoners to carry out a "massive escape," Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said.

Do what? Really?

Really, prosecutors said in opening arguments at Friedman's trial.

File: Alex Friedmann stands outside the Federal Courthouse in Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 19, 2008. Tennessee prison officials on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, agreed to ease restrictions on Friedmann, who is being held pre-trial at a maximum security prison in Nashville. Friedman was arrested last year and accused of hiding loaded guns and ammunition in a jail under construction in Nashville. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

"When I tell you what happened, you may think it's a made up story from a Hollywood movie," Davidson County Deputy District Attorney Amy Hunter said in her opening statement.

"Unfortunately, what I'm going to tell you is not made up. It's true, and it happened right across the street from where you're sitting."

Makes you wish you pulled jury duty, doesn't it? (OK, maybe not, but this sure is a thriller!)

Friedman's lawyers say he's guilty of nothing but some misdemeanors, reporter Kirsten Fiscus writes.

Check out the whole story here.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Hiding guns in a jail while it's being built? Someone call Hollywood