I’ve been waiting around all day for the release of the bodycam footage that will finally show us what happened at Paul Pelosi’s house last October when a Berkeley nudist, David DePape, attacked Pelosi with a hammer. Judge Murphy ordered the footage to be released yesterday, and the clerk’s office was tasked with the job. This morning I made several calls to the clerk’s office asking where the footage is and when it will be released. After receiving no return calls and no information, I finally got someone on the phone and was told that they were instructed not to answer any questions about this footage and instead would send all calls to their media contact, Ken Garcia.
“We’ve been instructed specifically on this case that any phone calls or messages are to go to [Ken Garcia] so I would leave him a message and hopefully he’ll give you a callback.”
Garcia didn’t return phone calls all morning, and his phone went straight to voicemail. I left a final voicemail asking him to provide commentary on why the clerk’s office was ignoring a court order and media requests. Five minutes after that voicemail, he called back and claimed that the only way to get a copy would be in person at the courthouse at 9 a.m. and that, in the year 2023, the Superior Court of San Francisco has no ability to put a digital file on a drive and share it electronically. According to Garcia, media cannot even file a request with the court electronically, and all forms must be filled out by hand and turned into the office in person.
It’s interesting to know that the clerk’s office was instructed specifically not to answer any questions about this case. Why? And why, in the year 2023, is it not possible for a court in the United States to provide digital files? Make it make sense!
I guess we will all have to rely on the local press in San Francisco to get the footage in person and release all of it to the rest of us. Will they?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member