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Friday, May 29, 2009
Courts - Yet another reason to ban cellphones in court rooms?
Updating this ILB entry from May 15th, and a long list of earlier ILB entries on bannning cell phones in courthouses, Dareh Gregorian of the New York Post (yes, the Post) has a story today headed "Oh, what a twit! Tweeting Roker sorry for taking juror pix." Some quotes:
Al Roker showed up for jury duty yesterday in Manhattan Criminal Court -- but by the end of the day, he was the one feeling guilty.The "Today" show weatherman touched off a tempest by taking iPhone pictures from the jury assembly room and posting them to Twitter, in contravention of courthouse rules.
One of the photos showed fellow potential jurors from the back, while in another, one potential juror's face could be seen.
The once-portly TV personality wound up apologizing to officials in the courthouse after word about the faux pas made the rounds.
Roker acknowledged making "a mistake" but said it was "inadvertent."
"Folks need to lighten up," he said in a later Twitter posting. "I'm not breaking laws . . . just trying to share the experience of jury duty. One that I think is important and everyone should take part in."
David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, said the picture taking and posting was "ill advised" but noted that Roker hadn't taken any pictures in a courtroom or of any sworn jurors.
"No harm was done," Bookstaver said, adding: "What's more important is this shows Al came to do his civic duty, and we're happy about that. It's a good example that nobody's exempt."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 29, 2009 03:21 PM
Posted to Courts in general