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Thursday, June 10, 2010
Ind. Courts - “This may well be the first time an Indiana judge presided over a hearing in an Indiana courtroom while being physically located in another state"
Pat Munsey reports today in the Kokomo Perspective:
On Wednesday, June 2, there were 11 Drug Court program hearings scheduled to be heard in Howard Superior Court 1. The judge was 800 miles away in Boston, attending the annual training conference of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. Usually, on the rare occasions, such as this, when Menges is unavailable, Erik May, the juvenile drug court referee, or senior judge Dennis Parry presides over the specialized program hearings.However, on June 2, May was also attending the conference, and Parry was unavailable. Menges was faced with either cancelling the weekly hearings, which are an integral part of the Drug Court program or coming up with an alternative.
Prior to leaving for the conference, Menges contacted Terry Tribby, the director of Howard County’s information systems, for help. The collaboration paid off, as they devised a solution which allowed Menges to use his laptop computer to remotely connect to the Superior 1 courtroom via video conferencing.
Using the laptop and the conferencing equipment, Menges connected and conducted the hearings as scheduled from Boston. Laura Stiner, the court reporter, said that in the courtroom everything proceeded as smoothly as usual. Defense attorney Matt Elkin added, “It went really well. This opens up a whole new era in court efficiency.”
When told of the successful experiment, Tribby said, “This confirms that in a pandemic situation we could virtually have judges anywhere in the world where there is an Internet connection and they should be able to continue basic operations. This was a good test of that theory.”
While the Howard County courts have been using video conferencing routinely to conduct hearings, up until now, the judge was always in the courtroom. This marks the first time the judge was remote and the parties were all in the courtroom.
“This may well be the first time an Indiana judge presided over a hearing in an Indiana courtroom while being physically located in another state,” said Menges. “Research has shown that eliminating even one court hearing for a Drug Court program participant has a significant negative impact on their recovery. Prior to today, our only option would have been to postpone the hearings. Thanks to Terry Tribby we didn’t have to do that.
“This technology will never take the place of sitting on the bench and seeing and hearing the participants in person, but it does show that there are a wide range of possibilities to explore while we try to increase the efficiency and efficacy of court proceedings.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 10, 2010 10:44 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts