NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The man who hid weapons in the Davidson County Jail is asking for a new trial ... this as we've learned a movie is in the works on the case.
Alex Friedmann is serving fourty years in prison.
Now Friedmann's request for a new trial comes as the sheriff reveals — for the first time — new evidence in the case ...
We heard at trial how Alex Friedmann planted weapons and tools inside the jail.
We even saw security video of him in action.
But now, for the first time here — we see how he actually did it.
"Even the keys. The ring was actually broken. Two keys were taken off that ring."
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall put the key ring right there on display outside his office.
He wants the public to see first hand exactly what Friedmann did.
"This is a mortar joint between two cinder blocks ... he planted 19 different kits inside the mortar."
Kits to help inmates escape.
By now the Friedmann story is well known.
The former prison reform advocate was convicted last year of disguising himself as a worker, stealing keys and planting guns and tools during contruction of the new Davidson County jail.
At trial, he claimed this was not part of a broader plot, but the sheriff testified Friedmann planned a bloody prison break ...
"His outlandish story with the court is just another trick of this narcassist," said Hall.
Friedmann was convicted on a charge of vandalism, at a felony level because it cost more than a million dollars to fix the damage he caused.
This week he'll ask for a new trial arguing the cost was nowhere near that.
The sheriff wants Friedmann to serve his forty years.
"He received a fair trial and I look foward to him serving the rest of his sentence," Hall said.
And if you need a reminder why — the sheriff said this exhibit at the S-O shows how and where the weapons were hidden ... for a plot that was thankfully foiled.
It's easy to see looking at this exhibit here — the guns, the hidden compartments — how this criminal case is made for the movies.
In fact, the sheriff says he's been contacted about a screenplay in the works.
Friedmann will ask a judge to grant him a new trial later this week.
Legal experts say that will likely be denied, at which point the case will go to the state appellate court next year.
