MAHONING COUNTY Court starts using video

The video arraignment system is simple, efficient and safe, a judge said.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- After two years of planning and dabbling with technology, video arraignment of criminal defendants started this morning in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
"It's simple, and it's highly efficient," said Judge Robert Lisotto, who will preside over the arraignments. "But the No. 1 point of all this is safety."
Judge Lisotto was a proponent of video arraignment when he took the bench in 1997 but had been unable to persuade his colleagues to give it a try. In May 2000, judges agreed to give the technology a look and have been working since then to get a system in place. This morning, five defendants were arraigned from the county jail.
How it works: With video arraignment, inmates are taken to a small courtroom in the county jail, where they sit in front of a television camera that is linked to a video monitor in a courtroom where the judge sits.
The judge is also on camera and is visible to the inmate on a monitor at the jail.
Judges had said the system would be especially helpful in cases where defendants pose a security risk to court personnel and deputies who transport them between the jail and courthouse. But Judge Lisotto said he plans to do all his inmate arraignments via the televised system.
"If they're already in the jail, I see no reason to not hook them up and go for it," he said. "It will save that mass moving of inmates back and forth every Wednesday."
Arraignments are generally held Wednesday mornings in common pleas court.
Wireless: The video arraignment system in the courthouse is different from other systems being used in the area because it is wireless, eliminating the need for electrical wires and conduits to be run throughout the courthouse.
Instead, several antennas have been placed in discreet locations throughout the building to pick up and transmit the wireless signals.
And instead of having video monitors permanently mounted in courtrooms, the equipment is on rolling carts that are wheeled into courtrooms as needed. When it's not being used, the equipment will be stored out of sight.
Not all judges like the video arraignment concept. Some prefer to bring inmates to court for all their appearances, including arraignment.
Commissioner David Ludt, who has pushed to get the system in place, said he thinks once opponents try the system, they'll like it and continue using it.
bjackson@vindy.com