JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Lawyers for the teen accused of stabbing 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey in St. Johns County over a hundred times submitted several exhibits this week to support their request to move the trial location.
Aiden Fucci's lawyers include hundreds of pages of news articles, clips and videos centered around the reporting of his alleged crime.
Fucci's lawyers argue that he cannot get a fair trial in the Seventh Judicial Circuit due to "ubiquitous pretrial publicity" and "community hostility" concerning this case.
Fucci’s pretrial hearing scheduled for Friday was continued to Dec. 13.
Fucci's attorney filed a motion on Nov. 18 which states he has been held in solitary confinement for much of his time at the jail due to threats of violence, previous disciplinary action and suicidal ideations. The threats made against him were not explained in the document. The motion calls solitary "a form of cruel and unusual punishment," which "will result in psychological harm."
Fucci's attorney also claims he has been kept in solitary confinement "for over 400 days of pretrial detention; with three exceptions where he was in general population for a total of 129 days that ended on May 16, 2022."
Sheriff Hardwick filed an objection to the motion for a pretrial transfer. The objection argues "when inmates enter a jail, they leave some of their rights at the door".
Fucci was 14 when he was arrested in May 2021 after Tristyn Bailey's body was discovered hours after she was reported missing by her family. She was stabbed 114 times. He is being tried as an adult.
Fucci's mother, Crystal Smith, is also charged in connection with the crime. Prosecutors claim she tampered with evidence when she allegedly tried to wash blood off his jeans.