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Judge May Keep Key Videos Out Of Texas Fight Club Trial
A judge may keep key videos from jurors in the trial of three jurors charged in connection with fights that were staged between residents of a Texas facility for the mentally disabled.
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CORPUS CHRISTI (July 6, 2009)--A judge plans to keep a cell phone containing videos of orchestrated fights at a Texas facility for the mentally disabled out of evidence in the trial of three former Corpus Christi State School residents unless prosecutors find case law to change her mind.
District Judge Sandra Watts said Monday she would likely grant a motion by a former employee at the Corpus Christi State School to suppress the evidence because it was essentially stolen property.
In March, almost 20 videos dating to 2007 were discovered on the cell phone that was found at a store and later turned in to police.
The videos showed staff at the school forcing residents into late-night bouts, even kicking them to egg them on.
The videos of what police termed a "fight club" would have been prosecutors' most powerful evidence of the abuse.
Eleven staff members were identified in the videos and six were charged.
None of those charged still works at the school.
