JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jail reports obtained Thursday by News4JAX from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office show Aiden Fucci, the teenager charged in the murder of 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey, has been involved in multiple disturbances while incarcerated at the Duval County jail.
Records reveal, among other things, he’s gotten into a fight and threatened to kill inmates, corrections officers and their families.
According to documents, on Dec. 25, 2021, a corrections officer witnessed Fucci hit another inmate — and the other inmate punched him back multiple times. Police said the other inmate was stun gunned and that Fucci told JSO he was being extorted for his commissary items and bullied. When asked why he didn’t inform the officer, the report says Fucci stated, “I ain’t no snitch.”
The report states no officers were injured. After that fight, the report states, Fucci was placed in solitary confinement.
A report that was filed Jan. 25, 2022, makes note of threats that Fucci reportedly made while in the jail, and mentions the fight that occurred on Christmas Day in 2021. The report reads that Fucci “has been relentless in his threats” against two inmates.
One of those inmates told police, the report reads; “Fucci been saying he gonna stab me up when he gets back to GP. He be telling everyone in the dorm that when he get out, he gonna find my people and stab them and take pictures. He go around saying we all p**** because most of us 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.”
Further investigating, according to the report, shows Fucci made several threats against other inmates and staff members, including when an inmate told police Fucci threatened someone, saying “When he gets out of the box, he’s going to stab him up.”
The report makes note of an incident on Jan. 20, 2022, when Fucci was found to be extorting commissary items from an inmate “by using fear.” When officers attempted to obtain the commissary items that Fucci extorted, the report reads, “he became highly agitated and made threats against the officers’ lives that were getting the commissary items back for the other inmates.” The report adds that officers said, “Inmate Fucci made threats to kill our families while beating on his cell door in a loud vicious manner.”
Two other incidents mentioned in reports: On Oct. 28, 2021, corrections officers noticed Fucci’s eyes were baggy and discolored. The report states he first told them he’d been beaten by St Johns County deputies shortly after he was returned to the jail because he wouldn’t get out of the car. He reportedly later said that no one hit him, and that he was just not sleeping well.
On Oct. 5 2022, a report states, corrections officers found “an excess of books and magazines” in Fucci’s cell during a shakedown. Fucci reportedly refused to let the officers remove the items, and he was pepper-sprayed and later placed in a restraint chair.
News4JAX spoke with Shannon Schott, an attorney and juvenile law expert, and she reviewed the documents.
“This is the reality of children being incarcerated. I think it’s important to remember that these are all children who are put into a box and they’re given very little supervision and very little resources to deal with the fact they’re charged with serious offenses,” Schott explained.
When asked if it’s possible whether the documents could impact the defense, Schott said there would be a serious question from the state attorney as to whether these witnesses are credible.
Fucci is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Bailey, his schoolmate. She was found stabbed to death in 2021 on Mother’s Day in Durbin Crossing, less than a half-mile from Fucci’s home in the neighborhood where Bailey also lived. He was arrested in the early morning hours the next day.
Fucci is being tried as an adult, although he was 14 at the time of his arrest. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. As a juvenile when the offense occurred, he is not eligible for the death penalty. He’s been in the Duval County jail because St. Johns County’s jail does not have a juvenile wing.
There is a final pretrial hearing scheduled for Fucci next Wednesday. He’s scheduled to go to trial Feb. 6.