Federal courts in Ohio to test videotaping

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

Video cameras will be used in some U.S. district courts in Ohio in a nationwide test to determine whether changes should be made to the long-standing ban on cameras in federal courts.

Three judges in the Southern District of Ohio and four in Ohio’s Northern District are among more than 100 from 14 courts across the country volunteering for the three-year digital video experiment.

to evaluate the effect of cameras in courtrooms. The Committee on Court Administration and Case Management of the U.S. Judicial Conference selected the courts in consultation with the Federal Justice Center, the federal judiciary’s research arm.

State courts in Ohio and some other states have allowed cameras for years at judges’ discretion, and supporters argue the public should be able to view the justice system in action. Critics fear such coverage could infringe on privacy rights or fairness.

The district court cameras are limited to civil cases, and bankruptcy cases are not included. Recordings will not be available in real time, but will be downloaded to the U.S. courts’ website and made publicly available on local participating court websites at the courts’ discretion as soon as possible.

Karen Redmond, a spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, stressed that only court-operated cameras are involved.

“It’s not about media coverage,” she said.

The pilot program officially started July 18, and a preliminary injunction hearing in the Western District of Tennessee was videotaped Thursday. But most judges were still working out technical details, Redmond said.

Court officials in Ohio aren’t sure when they’ll begin recordings.

Once technical issues are resolved, cases have to be selected and parties notified, said U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost, a participating Columbus-based judge in Ohio’s Southern District.

“All parties have to consent, and all of this will take a little while,” said Frost, who also is on the federal judicial committee.

Judges will control the cameras and can stop recordings, edit out information to protect parties’ privacy, or decide not to post a video, he said.

Frost said he couldn’t say how soon videos could be viewed after proceedings, except that it would be within “a reasonable length of time.”

Judges’ opinions vary on the use of the cameras.

“There are judges who are adamantly opposed to it, there are those in favor of it and there are those who don’t know one way or the other,” Frost told The Associated Press.

In 1996, the ban on cameras was lifted for the 12 federal appellate courts, but only two have allowed camera coverage.

For the latest camera test, Frost and two other Columbus judges were the only volunteers from Ohio’s Southern District, which includes courts in Dayton and Cincinnati.

Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott in Cincinnati told The Cincinnati Enquirer the six judges based there had no interest in the test and that camera coverage can be distracting.

Two Cleveland judges, one in Toledo and one in Akron volunteered in Ohio’s Northern District, where technical details are being worked out before recordings begin, court officials said.

Columbus lawyer Mark Landes looks forward to the experiment but worries that most lawyers won’t agree, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

“Lawyers are very conservative and afraid and like to control what’s going to happen at trials,” Landes said.