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Attorneys representing 18 Utah news agencies launched a new push this week for security video that shows a U.S. marshal shooting and killing Siale Angilau in a federal courtroom in 2014.

In the two years since the marshal fatally shot Angilau — who authorities say charged the witness stand with a pen or pencil in hand during his gang-related racketeering trial — federal agencies have refused to provide video or documents to individual news agencies that requested them.

The U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice have denied or not yet replied to the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests filed by Utah reporters, according to a news release from the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

On Thursday, attorneys for Utah's SPJ chapter filed a new FOIA request on behalf of the 18 news outlets seeking video footage of the April 21, 2014, shooting.

Attorneys Jeff Hunt and David Reymann, of the firm Parr Brown Gee & Loveless, filed the request. Reymann said that a number of the requests filed by the individual agencies weren't followed up on when they were denied, but the Utah Headliners chapter is committed to an appeal if the new request is denied.

"We wanted to get everybody on board in one request," Reymann said, "so that we can appeal it and try to get a review beyond agency-level."

Reymann said he doesn't believe the large number of media outlets involved will affect the merits of the case, but he said it does indicate the level of public interest in making the video public.

"As a journalist in Utah, I am proud to see the number of media outlets who have joined in this request to release records that unquestionably should be public," said McKenzie Romero, president of the Utah Headliners Chapter and a Deseret News reporter. "The list of requestors and the journalists represented there clearly demonstrates the amount of interest surrounding this incident and these records even two years after the fact."

Both Romero and Reymann emphasized that the Utah Headliners take no position of wrong or right in regards to the shooting, but instead said the video is a matter that happened in open court, and the public has a right to see and know what happened that day.

"It was a fatal shooting inside a courtroom, which is a very unusual incident," Reymann said. "Anytime there is a use of lethal force, it is something that the public has a great interest in. Both, so they can understand what happened and, if there was misconduct, to hold law enforcement accountable. It's the same dynamic of body cam footage. If law enforcement only releases the footage that shows them acting correctly, and withholds everything else, the public doesn't have any trust in the way law enforcement is wielding lethal force."

Attorney Robert Sykes, who represents Angilau's parents, said Friday that he believes the security video is "absolutely" of public interest. He was allowed to view a redacted, grainy version of the video last year with Angilau's parents — and he says he didn't believe the video showed that the shooting was necessary.

Sykes said the footage, taken from the rear of the courtroom, shows Angilau picking up something at the defense table — witnesses have said it was a pen or pencil — then charging toward the witness, who was testifying about how Tongan Crip members enter the gang.

As Angilau, 25, was going over the top of the witness box, the marshal fired at point-blank range, Sykes said. The marshal continued firing as Angilau was on the floor in the witness box. In all, the marshal fired four shots in rapid succession, Sykes said.

He said the marshal should have only used lethal force if there was an immediate harm to the officer or the public, and added that he didn't believe a writing instrument qualified as a weapon that could cause serious harm.

"It just didn't seem to need deadly force," Sykes said, adding that Angilau's family is still weighing whether to file a lawsuit.

Sykes himself has filed FOIA requests seeking a copy of the video and other documents, but he said his requests, which he filed last fall, are "under advisement." He said he is concerned that the version he has seen had been degraded because of its poor quality.

"It's hard for me to believe, frankly, that they have a video of such poor quality in that brand-new courthouse," he said.

Angilau's trial was the first at the new federal courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City. He was identified by federal prosecutors as a member of the Tongan Crip Gang and had been indicted on racketeering charges in May 2010. He was shot during the first day of his trial, and died at a hospital hours after he was wounded.

The Department of Justice announced in July 2014 that the marshal, who has not been publicly identified, was justified in shooting Angilau.

Twitter: @jm_miller