COLUMBIANA COUNTY Municipal court plans to start video hearings

A special fund created through costs charged to defendants will pay for the system.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Individuals charged with crimes in Columbiana County Municipal Court will soon find themselves sitting in front of a camera instead of a judge.
The court system expects to implement video hearings in the next two months, county Clerk of Courts Anthony Dattilio said Monday.
Video hearings will help the county save money by enabling county jail prisoners to have their day in court without having to be transported to court. The county sheriff's office handles that chore, on which five deputies each spend about three hours daily.
Sheriff Dave Smith estimates his department will save thousands of dollars per year with the video system.
"I think it's going to be great," Smith said of the video hearings. "It will be a benefit to the taxpayers," he added.
The system will be used in the municipal court buildings in Lisbon, Salem and East Palestine, Dattilio explained.
Over phone lines: It will transmit over telephone lines, aided by computer monitors and cameras to allow a prisoner at the county jail to communicate with a municipal court judge speaking from the courtroom.
For trials and major court hearings, prisoners will still appear in person. The video system will be used primarily for initial court appearances and motion hearings that typically are less complicated and take little time.
Cost estimates for the system are still being formulated, Dattilio said.
To pay for it, the court will use money from a special fund derived from a $10 fee that's attached to criminal and traffic offenses.
In the next few years, the county municipal court will do away with its three separate courtrooms and combine under a single roof at a structure to be built in or near Lisbon.
The new court will incorporate video hearings into its design, Judge Robert Roberts of the municipal court has said.