JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The video above is from a previous, related report.
Aiden Fucci has been extorting and threatening other teen inmates at the Duval County Jail, according to reports obtained by First Coast News. He has been sprayed twice with chemical restraint.
The reports portray Fucci as combative and bullying, fighting another teen inmate and forcing others to provide him items from the jail commissary.
One teen told jail officials, “Fucci been saying he gonna stab me up…He go around saying we all p**** because most of in here for shooting someone and killing them. He says he 'real' because he stabs a b**** face to face and take they life. It’s like he get high off it or something.”
First Coast News spoke with Jacksonville criminal defense attorney Janet Johnson, who is not affiliated with this case and she said that Fucci's alleged admission could be used against him at trial.
"It's not a violation of any 5th amendment right, it's not made to law enforcement, it wasn't made in response to questioning, it was a spontaneous statement that can absolutely be used against him," said Johnson, "now he could take the stand or his lawyers could argue he's in jail and trying to act tough, he might admit or say he did something he didn't really do just to make him look more dangerous because he has to survive in this very tough environment."
Fucci faces first degree murder charges for allegedly murdering his 13-year-old middle school classmate Tristyn Bailey in May 2021. An autopsy showed she was stabbed to death 114 times. He is being charged as an adult and has pleaded not guilty.
One report from January 2022 says, “inmate Fucci was found to be extorting commissary from [the inmate] by using fear. They were not housed together but Fucci was able to manipulate and extort inmates by threats and intimidation. Inmate Fucci did not have a commissary receipt to explain he abundance of commissary in his cell. The victims provided receipts and [words redacted] it was verified whom the commissary items rightfully belonged to. When officers entered his cell to obtain the commissary items back for the other inmates, he became highly agitated and made threats against the officer’s lives … Inmate Fucci made threats to kill our families while beating on his cell door in a loud vicious manner.”
"It's not a desirable place to be," said Johnson, "it's a tough environment and he has to be tough to survive there. However, a lot of things in the document could contradict any defense that he tried to raise as a poor innocent child. That might open the door for the prosecution to say that he didn't seem meek when he was in jail."
The reports say Fucci was on occasion placed in a restraint chair and placed in isolation cells “for the safety of inmates, officers, himself and property.”
The January 2021 report says jail officials reached out to the State Attorney’s Office for advice but were referred “to reach out to the St. ohns County State Attorney’s Office for counsel, being Fucci’s case was high profile.”
Several reports detail a Christmas Day 2021 fight which Fucci allegedly got into with another inmate. The report says Fucci began the fight by striking the other inmate in the face. Officers tried to break up the fight using chemical spray, the report says. Fucci eventually complied, but the other inmate “continued to strike inmate Fucci” and was eventually hit with a Taser.
After the incident, Fucci was sent to solitary confinement. “Since the incident,” a report dated Jan. 25, 2022, says, “inmate Fucci has been relentless in his threats against [the inmate’s] life.”
Although Fucci is charged in St. Johns County, he has been held at the Duval County Jail because it has facilities for teenagers.
In November, his attorney filed a motion to move him out of solitary confinement, claiming he was enduring “ongoing torture.” The motion said solitary confinement is "a form of cruel and unusual punishment," which "will result in psychological harm."
The motion said Fucci was in 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." It said he was in solitary due to “threats of violence against [him] in May 2022; and previously for a disciplinary action in January 2022, and suicidal ideations in 2021."
Fucci's trial is set to begin on Feb. 6.
Below are summaries of two other incidents obtained from jail officials:
"St. Johns County beat my a**"
Fucci told one officer he was beat up while in St. Johns County but told another a different story.
A jail reports says Chief Calloway told Sergeant Hewett to check Fucci's face for "dark coloration" under his eyes after he returned from a St. Johns County court appearance on Oct. 28, 2021. Hewett did not see anything abnormal, according to the report.
Later that day, Chief Calloway and Lieutenant Berk went to "personally lay eyes on" Fucci's face. The report said the teen told the officers that the discoloration under his eyes was from "not sleeping well," not because he had been in any fights or been battered by staff.
However, Fucci later told Corrections Officer Caruso "St. Johns County beat my a*** because I wouldn’t get out of the car when we got there”. When asked why he didn't report the incident to anyone else, the report says he replied, “I ain't no snitch."
At that point, Lieutenant Berk ordered that Fucci be medically evaluated.
Fucci was escorted by Officer Carmona to the jail clinic. When the nurse asked him if he was hit while at St. Johns County, the report says, he denied the beating.
“No, no one touched me. I’m just not sleeping well,” Fucci said, according to the report. He was deemed "fit to return" to his housing location without "any visible marks" on him.
"I'm calling my people"
An Oct. 5, 2022 report details an incident that stemmed from Fucci having "excess" books and magazine in his jail cell. In the subsequent confrontation, officers sprayed him with chemical restraint and strapped him in a restraint chair for more than three hours.
According to the report, Officers Clarida and Stoker went to the teens cell to conduct "a shakedown," and discovered the surfeit of books and magazines. The report says Fucci had been warned several weeks prior that the materials were considered contraband and would be confiscated if he didn't mail them home.
Because Fucci reportedly refused to mail his books home, the officers attempted to remove the items themselves. At that point, the report says, “inmate Fucci stood up, making a movement towards the books and stated, ‘You aren’t taking my f***ing books, I’m calling my people".
The report says Fucci refused to step out of the way, and then refused to put his hands behind his back for cuffs, repeating "f*** that. I’m calling my people." After an officer drew his chemical restraint spray, the report said, Fucci ran to the back of the cell, fell to the ground and hid his face in his hands. The officer moved closer, and sprayed him in the face. Fucci was then handcuffed.
According to the report, "Sergeant Clarida deemed inmate Fucci a threat to himself, property and others, and ordered that he be placed in the Restraint Safety chair.” Four officers strapped Fucci into the chair at around 3:50 p.m. He remained there until about 7:05 p.m.
According to the report, “While being placed in the Restraint Safety Chair, inmate Fucci became agitated and made the utterance "y'all some real fuck n***as.”
Johnson said that solitary confinement and restraint chairs are used for disruptive inmates.
"The restraint chair would shock people who didn't know what happens in the jail," said Johnson, "it does imply that he was a behavior issue, so the only reason he would be there is that they couldn't contain him otherwise."
After being medically cleared, he was returned to his cell "with no further incident".