This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Calling its release a "significant security concern," the federal government asked to seal video of the fatal courtroom shooting of a Utah man.

The motion, posted Thursday in U.S. District Court, is the government's latest response to a lawsuit Siale Angilau's parents filed in September against the government and the unidentified marshal who fired the deadly shots two years ago.

Angilau, along with 16 other alleged members and associates of the Tongan Crip Gang, was indicted on racketeering charges in May 2010. Prosecutors say the gang committed murders, robberies and assaults to bolster its Salt Lake Valley operations over two decades.

During the first day of Angilau's trial on April 21, 2014 — held at the then-newly opened federal courthouse — Vaiola Mataele Tenifa was testifying about how the Tongan Crip Gang operated and how members were inducted. Angilau, who was not restrained or in handcuffs, apparently jumped from the defense table and lunged at Tenifa. Some witnesses in the courtroom say Angilau, 25, was holding a pen or pencil.

At that point, a marshal — not named by any federal agency and identified in court documents as "Jane Doe" — fired at Angilau, likely hitting him in the arm. The marshal then fired another three shots, according to the lawsuit filed by the family, killing Angilau.

The family and its attorney, Robert Sykes, were shown courtroom video from the shooting in May 2015 (the version was pixelated to obscure faces). Their lawsuit relies, in part, on the footage, though they have not received responses to numerous requests to obtain a copy, Sykes has said.

Requests from The Salt Lake Tribune and other local news agencies have similarly been unanswered or denied.

The request to seal the footage, filed Thursday, calls public release of the video a "significant security concern." Prosecutors say releasing the recording would jeopardize courtroom safety measures by showing the "positioning of security cameras within the courtroom and areas not covered by the camera view (blind spots), emergency evacuation procedures for judges and court staff, the positioning of court security personnel within the courtroom and the emergency response procedures of court security personnel entering" and exiting the courtroom.

Even a pixelated version of the video released to the public, they argue, would potentially expose courtroom layouts to a "person intent on engaging in criminal activity or mischief."

Additionally, prosecutors fear revealing who was in the courtroom. The jurors, specifically, were selected anonymously and identified by numbers to protect their identities; many on the witness list, the motion argues, were not named in court documents because of "security concerns" related to the Tongan Crip Gang.

Six deputies who were in the courtroom or took part in the proceedings were temporarily relocated from their homes, along with their families, to lessen any threat of retaliation by members of the gang in the days and weeks after the trial.

"The safety of these individuals is of paramount concern," the motion states.

Prosecutors instead propose as the "least restrictive way to serve the government's compelling need" for safety to release audio of the incident, as well as a transcript, from the video.

"There's no basis for secrecy," Sykes said; he plans to oppose the motion.

"The public ought to have access to that tape because it's public property," he said, noting that at least 50 people were in the courtroom during the shooting.

An exhibit to the prosecutor's motion, though, posits that federal courtroom videos belong to the Federal Judiciary and are confidentially maintained by the United States Marshals Service. Release must be determined by law when appropriate, the documents state.

In July 2014, the Department of Justice announced that the marshal was justified in shooting Angilau.

ctanner@sltrib.com Twitter: @CourtneyLTanner