SAN BERNARDINO - In California, judges have broad discretion when it comes to allowing the media to photograph criminal defendants in their courtrooms. And if what is occurring with some judges in San Bernardino Superior Court is reflective of the norm statewide, there may be cause for concern.
Legislation that would give chief judges in federal trial and appellate courts the right to decide whether cameras would be allowed in court proceedings has been advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Sunshine in the Courtroom Act, S. 410, was passed by the committee on a 12-6 vote.
The U.S. District Court in St. Louis is among 14 federal district courts that will take part in a three-year pilot project to study the effect of cameras in courtrooms. More than 100 federal trial judges will participate in the project -- a group that includes judges who favor cameras in court and judges who are skeptical of them, according to information provided by the federal judiciary.
Salt Lake lawyer Brian Barnard, a longtime supporter of the First Amendment and press freedom, has sent a letter to the Utah Judicial Council calling for a ban on cameras in the courtroom. The letter was prompted by a photograph published April 5 in the Deseret Morning News. It was taken by photographer Scott G. Winterton in the St. George courtroom where a felony rape case has been brought against Warren Jeffs, president of the Fundamentalist LDS Church. The photo shows Jeffs' lawyer, Walter Bugden, taking a document from Jeffs, one that Jeffs had tried unsuccessfully to give to the judge himself.
Should video cameras be allowed in courtrooms? Jeff Umbreit
Trial courts in Illinois will allow cameras to document proceedings as part of a pilot project that launched Jan. 24. Previously, the state allowed cameras in appellate courtrooms and in the state's highest court.
VIRGINIA BEACH A judge continued a civil contempt proceeding against three Virginian-Pilot journalists Friday after receiving assurances that the newspaper would train its staff in the laws governing cameras in courtrooms and would have an editor speak to a high school class about the media's role in covering courts, especially cases involving juveniles.
The U.S. Judicial Conference has released guidelines for its pilot program designed to evaluate the effects of video cameras in courtrooms and the publication of video recordings of court proceedings. Under the guidelines, presiding judges must approve video recording, parties must consent to the recording of each proceeding in a case, and the recordings will not be simulcast or immediately made public and available to the media. The recordings will be made publicly available on www.uscourts.gov and on local participating court websites at the court's discretion.
Judges in New Hampshire, New york and Virginia barred or severely limited broadcasters from their courtrooms in recent months. Meanwhile, three Supreme Court justices recently reiterated their opposition to cameras in courtrooms, with Justice Antonin Scalia stressing that television news shows would only show snippets out of context if cameras were allowed.
Courtrooms have always inclined themselves to drama. Even before the days of scrutinizing video cameras, what happened in courtrooms fed the gossip-starved and incited societal debate. Beginning in 1895, the esteemed writer and playwright Oscar Wilde spent much of his time in a room with a gavel, defending his art and his pursuit of beauty and pleasure in all things. Wilde was initially not to be a defendant--the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of his young lover, Lord Alfred Douglas--was. Wilde's three trials began after the Marquess wrote an accusation--"posing somdomite"--on a card at Wilde's club. Urged on by Douglas (who had little affection for dear old dad) Wilde decided to sue the Marquess for libel. The end result was something far different from what Wilde and Douglas had ...
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