'All on video': Attorney admits Nashville criminal justice advocate vandalized jail, hid guns
Alex Friedmann did pose as a construction contractor, did steal a ring of keys, did hide guns and did vandalize the Downtown Detention Center in late 2019, his attorney said.
"At the end of this trial I will ask you to find my client guilty of vandalism," Benjamin Raybin said during opening arguments. "But I'm going to ask you not to overcharge him for those crimes."
Friedmann, a Nashville criminal justice advocate, was charged with felony vandalism in connection with what Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall called a "deliberate, evil" plan to hide tools and weapons to assist in a "massive escape."
Friedmann, 53, is also facing a federal trial in connection with the case.
"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."
More: Police say he sneaked guns into a Nashville detention center, and practiced his scheme in a basement
Detention Center officers first discovered in December 2019 that a set of keys in the facility's control room appeared to be different from others. Shortly after, officers determined two keys were missing, a padlock and general movement key that would unlock almost all the doors inside the facility.
Surveillance footage showed a man, later identified as Friedmann, dressed like a construction worker wearing a yellow vest and dust mask. The man was seen in the video spray painting around the key control room door, the sheriff's office said in a news release in January 2020.
Friedmann entered the facility on at least three other occasions months before the DCSO took occupancy of the building in November 2019, authorities said.
When detained by Metro Nashville police, Friedmann was in possession of bolt cutters, a key chit used to identify keys and schematics of the detention center, Hunter said during opening arguments. Three loaded guns and tools were found in the jail after Friedmann's arrest, Hunter said.
Days after Friedmann's arrest, his other attorney, David Raybin, returned the stolen keys to the sheriff's office.
Unsure if Friedmann had the keys copied, the DCSO replaced 1,800 locks after the break-in and delayed opening of the facility. Authorities estimated the cost to change those locks, and labor to review thousands of hours of video footage, was more than $600,000.
Raybin was candid about his client's actions.
"There's no secret," he said. "It's all on video. Mr. Friedmann went into the jail, damaged and hid those things in the walls. Unlike most trials, we don't dispute he did commit numerous acts of vandalism."
Friedmann is charged with vandalism with over $250,000 in damage. Raybin argued the law is twofold — there first needs to be proof of damage, and then the value of that damage needs to be determined.
The government, Raybin said, is trying to overcharge his client.
"It's not whatever the government says or wants it to be. It's what the law says it is," he said.
Rabin argued changing all the locks inside the facility was unnecessary and it's improper for the state to charge Friedmann for the labor cost for reviewing the video footage.
"Proof will show he might have committed a theft, but not vandalism of all the keys and all the locks," Raybin said. "We don't dispute that it was appropriate for some agency to review the videos, but the evidence will not show he damaged any video or equipment."
Sheriff Daron Hall was the first witness to give his testimony, during which he explained his decision to replace the locks in the facility and the labor cost associated with the investigation into the vandalism.
"We had no idea if he duplicated it, damaged it," Hall said of the stolen keys. "I went to the mayor's office and explained why Mr. Friedmann's actions would delay opening of a massive building. We learned of two keys, but that led us to finding guns and other weapons."
During a break in the trial, Hall said he took the incident personally.
"I hope the jury and the courts in the system can understand how complex and how evil this act was," he said. "We were two weeks away from having massive loss of life. There's no doubt about it in my mind. To have somebody like this go in and manipulate the system and compromise everybody's personal safety is totally unacceptable, and I'm ready for justice to be served."
Contact Tennessean reporter Kirsten Fiscus at 615-259-8229 or KFiscus@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KDFiscus.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Attorney admits Alex Friedmann vandalized Nashville jail, hid guns
