UNNAMED GIRL - 9 yo - / Charged: James Patrick Tadros - Jacksonville, FL

Police: James Patrick Tadros nearly kills girl in Best Buy bathroom

2:22 PM, Aug 25, 2013

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A terrifying Friday night for a family at the Best Buy near the Avenues Mall. A 9-year-old girl was beaten and nearly killed in the women's bathroom at the Best Buy on Southside Boulevard, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.



PHOTO GALLERY: Girl nearly killed at Best Buy


Jacksonville Sheriff's Office initially responded to a reported battery Friday evening. According to JSO Sgt. Jay Farhat, a 9-year-old girl was shopping with her mother.

The girl got out of her mother's sight for a minute and 29-year-old James Patrick Tadros from St. Johns County, lured the girl into the women's bathroom.

Another customer heard her screams for help and rushed in. The customer came into the bathroom and found Tadros beating the girl. Farhat said if the customer hadn't come in when they did, the girl would have been killed.

Farhat said Tadros, did not know the young girl. Police also said that he punched and kicked her, put a plastic bag over the girl's head and held her head down in the toilet.

"By the grace of God she survived customer and employees got in when they did. If it had been any longer this could have been a much worse outcome," Farhat said.

The victim is receiving treatment at UF Health. Farhat said the victim does not appear to be sexually assaulted but testing is being done to make sure.

"This appears to be an isolated random incident," Farhat said.

Tadros is in custody and will be charged with attempted murder. His arraignment is set for 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

UPDATE: Tadros made his first appearance and court Saturday. He was charged with attempted murder, false imprisonment and criminal mischief. 


http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/article/325138/3/JSO-Girl-beaten-at-Best-Buy-on-Southside

Attorneys argue Jacksonville judge should not prohibit media from reporting arrest details in girl's attack

Posted: September 9, 2013 - 7:30pm



Attorneys for two Jacksonville TV stations and the Times-Union argued Monday that a judge should end his prohibition against media reporting specific details in the case of a man accused of trying to kill a 9-year-old girl.

The information came from two paragraphs in an arrest report that were supposed to be blacked out because confessions are exempt from the public record.

WJXT TV-4 obtained a copy of the arrest report that hadn’t blacked out a police interview with James Patrick Tadros, 29, who was charged with attempted murder, false imprisonment and criminal mischief after a girl was rescued from a women’s restroom at the Southside Boulevard Best Buy Aug. 23.

Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud ordered the station and other media not to publish or broadcast the information, which WJXT TV-4, WTEV TV-47 and the Times-Union said is unconstitutional.

WJXT TV-4 got the unredacted arrest report from its lawyer, Ed Birk, who obtained it through his access of the Duval County clerk of courts database. Clerk of Courts Ronnie Fussell is supposed to ensure documents remain redacted unless the attorney is representing a client in the relevant case. Fussell said he won’t comment until Soud makes a decision.

Assistant State Attorney Lisa DiFranza argued Birk violated the user agreement for the database by releasing the arrest report without the blacked-out paragraphs.

The user agreement, which is not easily available on the website, says users with access to the attorney portion of the database are not allowed to share information.

“This was not obtained in all the standard investigative techniques,” DiFranza said. “This is information obtained through privileged access from the attorney for WJXT.”

“If it was obtained some other way, do you believe the court would be required by law to permit the publication and dissemination of this information?” Soud said.
“I believe so,” she said.

Tim Conner, attorney for the Times-Union, said newspaper policy does not generally admit the publication of confessions, but that’s the decision of the newspaper not the court.

“We think that continuing the prior restraint in this instance would be unconstitutional.”

He later quoted a 1976 Miami Herald case where the Florida Supreme Court ruled “news delayed is news denied.”

Wayne Henderson, Tadros’ defense attorney, said “the newspaper and all news sources are pushed around by social media, the great hunger to get news.”

Times-Union Editor Frank Denton said the issue is based on the principle of a judge restricting the media.

“We became involved as a matter of principle,” Denton said. “The preservation of freedom of the press is essential to our government.”

Soud is expected to make a ruling this week.