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Lawyers on Friday argued whether a lawsuit against a U.S. marshal should continue, and if the judge's ruling would victimize the marshal or the family of the defendant whom she — or he — killed.

Secrecy and security were themes of the hearing. At one point, U.S. District Judge John Dowdell ordered everyone except lawyers and the immediate family of Siale Angilau out of the courtroom while he watched video and still images of a marshal shooting Angilau inside another courtroom in the building on April 21, 2014.

The Angilau family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. Marshals Service and the marshal who fired. During open court Friday, government lawyer Leah Brownlee Taylor told Dowdell that the plaintiffs already have received video and audio from the courtroom that day and don't need any more of the evidence gathered by federal law enforcement or from witnesses.

The government and the marshal have immunity from lawsuits when properly conducting their duties, Taylor argued, and the case should be dismissed.

"We don't want a situation where we have deputies that will hesitate to protect, witnesses, jurists, other people in the courtroom when there's a physical threat of danger and harm," Taylor told the judge.

The marshal has been identified in court records as "Jane Doe," though both feminine and masculine pronouns were used to describe the marshal Friday.

"You can't even imagine the impact and the burden this case has had on Jane Doe already," Taylor said.

Plaintiffs' attorney Bob Sykes told Dowdell that the video he has received is of poor quality and he wants to know how the government synchronized it with a separate audio recording made by the person who was typing the transcript.

Both the video and the audio depict the marshal shooting Angilau four times.

Sykes made a point during the hearing to introduce Angilau's parents and said they deserve more evidence of what happened during the shooting, including giving Sykes an opportunity to depose Jane Doe.

"I think those last two shots went smack dab in [Angilau's] back — I think I can prove it — while he's flat down on the ground," Sykes said.

Angilau had been identified by federal prosecutors as a member of the Tongan Crip Gang and was indicted on racketeering charges in May 2010. On the first day of a jury trial, Vaiola Mataele Tenifa was testifying about how Tongan Crip members enter the gang.

Angilau, according to witnesses and court records, picked up a pen from the defense table and charged at Tenifa. Jane Doe fired as Angilau reached the witness stand.

Neither the Marshals Service nor the FBI, which investigated the shooting, has disclosed the name of Jane Doe or what their inquiries found. Copies of the video, the audio and some of the briefings in the lawsuit have been filed under seal.

A coalition of news outlets have sought to intervene in the lawsuit to force public release of the video. An attorney for that coalition, David Reymann, tried to object to Dowdell closing the hearing on Friday.

Dowdell, a federal judge from Tulsa, Okla., who was assigned the case to avoid conflicts of interest for Utah judges, refused to listen to the objection. Reymann and his law partner were then forced to leave the courtroom, along with other observers.

Later Friday, Reymann sent Dowdell a letter complaining that he did not hear the objection and has not ruled on the news outlets' motion to intervene in the lawsuit.

Dowdell will issue rulings on Friday's motions at a later date, though he indicated he would order the government to provide Sykes more of its evidence before considering dismissing the lawsuit.

At least one of Angilau's siblings also has been convicted of crimes affiliated with gangs, and there was a high level of security in the courtroom Friday, for a civil hearing.

There were three uniformed marshals in the courtroom, plus perhaps a half-dozen law enforcement officers sin plain clothes. In the hallway during the closed session, a marshal asked an Angilau relative to show him a photo she took with her phone.

The woman explained she used the social media app SnapChat and no longer had a copy of the photo file on her phone.

Angilau's trial was the first held in the then-new federal courthouse.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

Twitter: @natecarlisle