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Saturday, June 09, 2007
Ind. Courts - Porter County Courts have new reason for cellphone bans
The ILB has had a number of stories on decisions to ban cellphones entirely from courthouses. Allen County appears to have been the first. The rationale from a Nov. 22nd Fort Wayne Journal Gazette story:
Allen Superior Magistrate Robert Schmoll said two problems have led to the change.“First, there’s the disruptive aspect, which is much worse in (misdemeanor and traffic court),” he said. “We have to stop a couple of times a morning because someone can’t read a sign.”
Signs stationed outside each courtroom in every building instruct people that all electronic devices must be turned off. When the phones have rung, bailiffs have confiscated them. The phones are usually returned later that day or the next. However, there is an exception.
“Now, they’re able to take pictures (using cell phones). Based on that, we’ve had instances of people taking pictures of witnesses, prosecutors, police officers. That brought … more cause for concern,” he said.
People who’ve been caught taking pictures or video inside the courtrooms have had their phones destroyed on judges’ orders. Indiana law does not allow cameras inside state courtrooms.
Cell phones are already banned in most federal courthouses and more state courthouses are going this way as well, said Schmoll, who has noticed the problem in the past five years.
Today Bob Kasarda of the NWI Times points to a new reason, in this story headed Porter County "Judges to ban cell phones from courthouses." Some quotes:
VALPARAISO | Picture this: The person across from you pulls out a cell phone, punches four buttons, and you've been shot four times.The story also provides a link to a chilling video of the cell phone gun in action.Judges in Porter County can picture it, and they are following the lead of their peers in Allen County and at the federal level by banning cell phones and like devices from county court buildings beginning Aug. 1.
Courthouse security have alerted officials that cell phone guns capable of shooting several bullets are now available on the Internet, according to Porter Superior Court Judge David Chidester.
A cell phone stun gun also is available, he said.
"These cell phone guns are exact duplicates of normal cell phones and I, for one, don't seek to learn more about it close up," said Chidester, who serves as the judicial liaison to courthouse security.
Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper has already banned cell phones during trials to avoid the potential of someone recording testimony and violating the rules by sharing it with another witness.
Banning cell phones all together will eliminate the distraction created when they ring during court, she said.
"Every Tuesday something goes off," she said, referring to her busiest court day.
Porter Superior Judge Roger Bradford, who along with Porter Superior Judge Bill Alexa was unaware the ban had been approved, said it appears to be in keeping with the state's code of judicial conduct prohibiting cameras from courtrooms.
The details of the ban are still being worked out, but exceptions may be made for attorneys, police and courthouse personnel, Chidester said. Consideration also will be given to allowing future jurors time to return to their cars during the day to access their cell phones to call family members and employers.
Everyone else who shows up to the buildings with a cell phone will be turned away, he said. Courthouse security officers currently hold on to some weapons and cameras while visitors are inside the building, but that will not be the case with cell phones.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 9, 2007 08:48 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts