DOWNTOWN TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — A Leon County judge heard new details Thursday about the evidence against a man facing nine counts of aggravated child abuse and one count of child neglect, but did not decide whether he will remain behind bars.
WATCH FULL REPORT BELOW:
After hearing from two state witnesses, the judge said a decision on pretrial detention for Juming Delmas will come within 24 hours.
The hearing started with a change on the defense side. Delmas' attorney asked to withdraw from the case, citing irreconcilable differences, but agreed to stay on through the pretrial detention hearing.
The state then called Leon County Sheriff's Detective Ivan Gonzalez, who walked the judge through the investigation that led to Delmas' arrest.
"When he heard the screaming, he texted his father saying, you need to come back here, someone was screaming," Gonzalez said.
Prosecutors also played 9-1-1 calls and body camera video from September 15th and 16th.
"Sheriff's office... Somebody was dropping their kid off at the bus stop and said they heard yelling coming from this house."
"Yeah."
"Everything OK?"
"Yeah."
The focus then turned to cameras inside Delmas' home. Digital Forensic Analyst Luca Rouse testified investigators recovered more than 400 hours of video of the child. Rouse described video he says shows Delmas handcuffing the child and hitting him with different objects on multiple occasions.
"The defendant begins to strike the child with a wooden object in the head, neck, back, buttock, leg, and face. And this lasted about a minute and seven seconds," Rouse said.
Rouse said in another video, Delmas looked at a camera and said:
"Ass whooping 101, ladies and gentlemen. And then with a brief explanation as to why the incident is occurring."
In closing arguments, the state pointed to Delmas' work with children and argued the evidence shows he should remain in custody.
"We have hundreds of hours of footage. We're not even a fraction through, and the court's gonna watch some horrible stuff, and there is no reasonable, no reasonable alternative way to keep children safe," Designated Assistant State Attorney Rachel Jankowski said.
The defense argued Delmas should be allowed out of jail while the case moves forward. His attorney pointed to his ties to Tallahassee and his local business, and argued he is not a safety or flight risk.
"We asked that the court place a reasonable bond on Mr. Delmas and place restrictions on him that that's less than incarceration that can protect the community, protect and ensure he's not a flight risk as well," Defense Attorney Mutaqee Akbar said.
The judge is now deciding whether Delmas stays in jail while he waits for trial. Delmas is scheduled for arraignment on October 7.
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