Josh Jacobs' ex moves to permanently seal case evidence

The Josh Jacobs case took another turn this week. His ex-girlfriend's attorneys, Amir Tahmassebi and Ramses Jalalpour, filed a motion Tuesday to permanently seal the evidence and discovery materials tied to the criminal case against the Packers running back, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

Jeremy Fowler

@JFowlerESPN

Attorneys for Josh Jacobs’ ex-girlfriend on Tuesday filed a motion to seal evidence and discovery materials in the criminal case involving the Packers running back. A statement from Amir Tahmassebi and Ramses Jalalpour, obtained by @espn

This isn't the first time a judge has stepped in to keep this material out of public view. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Marc Hammer had already signed a temporary sealing order covering police reports, photos, recordings, witness statements and video evidence the same day Jacobs pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property stemming from a May 23 incident. That order was always framed as temporary, pending exactly this kind of follow-up motion. Now it's here, and the ask is to make it stick for good.

Fowler laid out the stakes plainly: this move makes it a lot harder for any video footage to ever surface publicly. The motion is framed around protecting the woman's privacy, not shielding Jacobs, but the practical effect is the same either way — the home surveillance footage that prosecutors said corroborated her account of the incident stays locked down.

Jeremy Fowler

@JFowlerESPN

This essentially makes it more challenging for video footage to be released The ex-girlfriend aims to "protect her privacy" with the motion to seal docs and evidence.

Jeremy Fowler

@JFowlerESPN

Attorneys for Josh Jacobs’ ex-girlfriend on Tuesday filed a motion to seal evidence and discovery materials in the criminal case involving the Packers running back. A statement from Amir Tahmassebi and Ramses Jalalpour, obtained by @espn t.co/GdqxSmyjse

Not everyone thinks a sealing order ends the story. Joe Schad's reaction summed up the general expectation around this stuff — TMZ and outlets like it have made a business out of getting footage courts would rather keep buried, and a sealing motion doesn't guarantee it stays buried forever.

Adam Schefter also flagged the filing, pointing to Rob Demovsky's reporting for the fuller picture, and Fowler followed with ESPN's own story on the woman seeking the permanent seal. The consistent thread across all of it: this is being driven by the alleged victim's team, not Jacobs', even though the running back stands to benefit just as much from the footage never getting out.

Jacobs already put his end of the legal process behind him with the no-contest plea and a $1,000 fine on the battery charge, with the criminal damage count still possibly headed for dismissal. What's left now is entirely about whether the public — or anyone digging for the video — ever gets to see what actually happened in that garage back in May. If the permanent seal goes through, the answer is almost certainly no.