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
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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 />
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