08.01.2013 Views

1989-03-24 Comments of Star Tribune.pdf - Minnesota Judicial Branch

1989-03-24 Comments of Star Tribune.pdf - Minnesota Judicial Branch

1989-03-24 Comments of Star Tribune.pdf - Minnesota Judicial Branch

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

a party shall be made part <strong>of</strong> the record. As a matter<br />

<strong>of</strong> openness and fairness and for the purpose <strong>of</strong> aiding<br />

judges in the consent decision process, the practice<br />

<strong>of</strong> hearing arguments for and against EMC from the<br />

parties to the action and the media should be encouraged.<br />

A written request facilitates the process <strong>of</strong> notifying<br />

attorneys and litigants that EMC <strong>of</strong> the proceeding is<br />

under consideration. The presence <strong>of</strong> cameras and micro-<br />

phones in the courtroom should never come as a complete<br />

surprise to attorneys and litigants. This occurred in<br />

at least one case during the experimental year 36 and<br />

.<br />

the reaction <strong>of</strong> the defense attorney and his client was<br />

understandably negative. An effective control for this<br />

potential problem would be to require the Court to notify<br />

attorneys and litigants <strong>of</strong> a pending EMC request suffi-<br />

ciently in advance to permit their input.<br />

4. Party Consent<br />

One <strong>of</strong> the most fundamental and important issues associ-<br />

ated with "cameras in the courts" is the question <strong>of</strong><br />

party consent. The California experiment operated under<br />

both a party consent required and no party consent<br />

required condition for criminal trial level proceedings.<br />

A basic finding <strong>of</strong> the research on this point is that<br />

a party consent requirement in criminal cases results<br />

jn very little = extended media coverage. Generally,<br />

defendants and their attorneys reject EMC requests if<br />

empowered to do so, and the media predominantly is<br />

interested in criminal cases.<br />

If th-e <strong>Judicial</strong> Councildecides to allow electronic<br />

and photographic coverage <strong>of</strong> court proceedings on a<br />

36 People v. Roemer in Ventura County.<br />

-2340

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!