Court proceedings may be broadcast on Internet

Dan Kulin

Monday, March 10, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.

Point. Click. Court.

The eyes of cyberspace may be coming to a Henderson courtroom this spring.

In what is believed to be a first in Nevada, Henderson Municipal Judge John Provost plans to outfit his courtroom with at least one camera and broadcast his proceedings over the Internet, possibly by early April.

Provost said the webcasts will give the public a way to keep an eye on the court and to learn about the legal process by watching him handle the misdemeanor driving-under-the- influence, domestic battery and traffic cases he handles.

"A lot of times people ask me what's court like," Provost said. "Now they'll be able to see and they'll have an expectation of what court's like."

That could come in handy for future defendants, said James Shakespeare, a 47-year-old Las Vegas resident who appeared before Provost Wednesday to talk about his domestic violence and substance abuse classes.

"When I first started going through this thing I was flying blind," he said.

Being able to watch court in action before going before a judge "would ease some of the tension off your nerves," he said.

Besides that, court administrator David Hayward said, it's an education.

"It will be a great opportunity for students in the Las Vegas Valley and around the world to see court in action," Hayward said.

But Douglas Hedger, who is running for municipal judge against Provost in the spring election, said it's a bad idea and that he would turn the Internet connection off if elected.

Hedger said he is OK with having cameras in courtrooms to broadcast specific high-profile cases, but he is against having cameras broadcast courtroom activities continuously.

"I would not have gavel-to-gavel coverage. The only time I would allow it is if there was a request from the media," Hedger, a chief deputy public defender, said. "I don't want it to become a Judge Judy. ... The danger of that would outweigh any educational benefit there might be."

If elected, Hedger would take office on July 1.

Hedger isn't alone in his dislike of courtroom cameras.

Federal courts have banned cameras out of fear that witnesses and jurors could be intimidated by their mere presence, said Dick Carelli, spokesman for the Judicial Conference of the United States. Appellate courts are allowed to decide for themselves, he said.

Municipal Court does not have jury trials but it does have witnesses, and Provost said he would be able to turn off the web camera if he felt it were interfering with a trial. He would probably turn off the Internet-to-courtroom connection for cases involving juveniles in an effort to protect their identity, he said.

But Provost doubted attorneys and defendants would start playing to the camera, as Hedger said they might.

"We have televised proceedings in the county court and that's never been a problem," Provost said. "I just don't see it happening."

If such problems did arise, Provost said it would be easy to just turn it off.

Broadcasting court proceedings over the Internet is rare but is done in some courts around the country.

The highest state courts in Mississippi, Florida, and West Virginia broadcast oral arguments over the Internet.

Also, some individual trials in lower courts have aired on the Internet including on Court TV, which sometimes has live trial broadcasts on its website on Saturdays, when the station runs other programming.

While continuous broadcasting on the Internet is rare, Fred Graham, the chief anchor and managing editor at Court TV, said it might not be for long.

"I can foresee a day when maybe two dozen trials are on the Internet at any one time," Graham said. "I think this is the future, and I think this is a good idea."

When researching the idea, Provost and Hayward said they found only one court already broadcasting its daily proceedings over the Internet. The Delaware Municipal Court in Delaware, Ohio, has been showing live court proceedings on its website, www.municipalcourt.org, since spring 1999.

Lynn Hawbaker, the court administrator, said the broadcasts have been popular with the public and have helped families overcome geographic boundaries. In late 1999 relatives of the victim in a vehicular homicide case couldn't come to Ohio from their home in India to watch the trial in person, so they watched via the Internet from India, Hawbaker said.

The Ohio court's Internet connection cost between $70,000 and $80,000 to equip two courtrooms, plus about $1,500 a month, she said.

Since then the cost of the technology has dropped considerably. Connecting the Henderson courtroom to the Internet is expected to cost about $5,600 for the equipment, plus $1,250 a month to broadcast the courtroom proceedings.

In Henderson, as in Ohio, the cost is expected to be paid for with existing court revenues from fines and fees.

The details of how Provost's courtroom will reach cyberspace are still being worked out with Smartconnect.net, a Las Vegas company.

So far the plan is to have at least one camera installed in Provost's courtroom and connect the court microphones to the Internet feed. The live pictures and sound will probably be available through the city of Henderson's website, www.cityofhenderson.com, Hayward said.

Provost's court could be on the Internet in April, Hayward said.

If it's successful there, Internet cameras will also be installed in Henderson Judge Ken Proctor's courtroom, the only other Henderson municipal courtroom, he said.

Smartconnect.net President Henry Valentino said as the cost of the technology continues to drop, more courts will probably follow suit.

Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said broadcasting court proceedings over the Internet is a good idea.

"That way the public gets to see more of what's going on," Lichtenstein said.

The Internet link could save trips to the courthouse for Kenneth and Beverly Buford. The retired Henderson couple have been frequent courtroom spectators at the Henderson courthouse for the past five months or so.

"I enjoy watching the trials. You learn so much about the law," Beverly said, adding that she would certainly watch Provost's proceedings on the Internet.