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Monday, May 15, 2006

Ind. Courts - How cameras have worked out in Kentucky courtrooms

John Lucas of the Evansville Courier& Press writes today:

Indiana is getting ready to start an experiment by allowing cameras - still and TV - into courtrooms for the first time. Chief Justice Randall Shepard announced last week that the courtroom of Vanderburgh Superior Judge Wayne Trockman is among eight that will participate in the experiment.

At the end, results will be evaluated to determine whether to discontinue the practice or open it to all courts.

If Kentucky's experience is a guide, there won't be any problems, and Indiana might as well forgo the experiment and get on with it. Cameras have been allowed in Kentucky courtrooms for so long that most people practicing law, sitting on the bench or covering trials don't remember a time they weren't there. Even the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts had difficulty coming up with a date for when cameras were first allowed. It is believed to have been in the late 1970s. Court rules governing photography were published in mid-1981.

After recounting reasons given for banning cameras in places where cameras are banned, Lucas continues:
Really I suspect, though, it is more a control issue for the judges. Judges are little demigods who have pretty well absolute control over what happens in their courtrooms.

They can decree what manner of dress is permissible in their courtrooms. They require men to remove their hats and caps. They decree silence. They control access. I think probably the same issue is involved with cameras.

The judge is still in charge, and in Kentucky the rules pretty well limit coverage to one TV camera, one radio hookup and one still photographer. Of course, in the interim, a video tape has become the official court record for circuit level cases in Kentucky, and in many counties TV and radio folks simply plug their equipment into the feed from the court's cameras and audio and aren't even present in the courtroom.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 15, 2006 07:08 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts