Prosecutors: Missing video of Jeffrey Epstein's suicide found; why Tartaglione's lawyer wants it

Jonathan Bandler | Rockland/Westchester Journal News

Video from sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's first suicide attempt in a federal detention center has been found, prosecutors told a federal judge on Thursday.

The about face came a day after the judge was told the video was missing, a possible blow to the defense of former Briarcliff Manor police officer Nicholas Tartaglione, the financier's cellmate at the time who is facing the death penalty in a quadruple homicide.

Tartaglione's lawyer, Bruce Barket, told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas on Wednesday that despite his urging jail officials at the troubled lockup, Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, to preserve all evidence from the July 23 incident, he was told no video exists. Epstein died two weeks later in a second apparent suicide attempt.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Swergold told Karas that efforts were still being made to figure out what happened, or whether video could still be located. "It is our understanding ... that the video no longer exists. It was not preserved," he said.

But on Thursday, prosecutors wrote to Karas that MCC staff had preserved the video and that it would be shown to Tartaglione's lawyers once prosecutors got it.

"We are pleased and looking forward to seeing it," Barket said in an email Thursday night.

Tartaglione's trial is still likely more than a year away. He is accused of participating in the killing of the four men on April 11, 2016, after luring one of them to a bar in Chester that his brother ran because the man owed him money over a cocaine deal that went bad.

Eight months later, the day after Tartaglione's arrest, the men's bodies were discovered on property the ex-cop had rented in Otisville.

His lawyers have sought the video evidence from the Epstein incident in anticipation of the death penalty phase of the trial if Tartaglione is convicted, hopeful it would provide mitigation for a jury weighing his fate.

"We think ultimately it will portray Nick in a positive light," Barket told The Journal News/lohud on Wednesday.

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Epstein was found semi-conscious in his cell on July 23 following the apparent suicide attempt. He was taken to another area of MCC and placed on suicide watch.

More than a week later he was returned to the cellblock and shared a cell with another inmate. Whether they would have put him back with Tartaglione is unknown, but by then the ex-cop had another cellmate, Barket said. Epstein was put in a cell with an unidentified prisoner, who was taken out on Aug. 8.

Epstein remained alone and on Aug. 10 was found dead in his cell.

Although Tartaglione and other inmates had long complained about the conditions at MCC, Epstein’s suicide intensified the scrutiny on the facility. A criminal probe is ongoing and two guards who failed to check on Epstein regularly the morning he killed himself have been charged in the case.

There was initially speculation that Epstein may have been assaulted during the first incident. But Barket has said from the outset that Tartaglione did nothing wrong. He said his client had acted appropriately but would not elaborate on what specifically Tartaglione did.

Barket said he received an email from authorities that Tartaglione would not be charged either criminally or with jail infractions related to his interaction with Epstein. He would not provide the email.

Twitter: @jonbandler

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