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2 more Illinois counties can allow courtroom cameras

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[April 30, 2012]  MACOMB (AP) -- The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court has announced another expansion of the state's experiment with cameras in the courtrooms, saying it appeared to be working well in the circuit courts where it already is being tried.

Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride said the order would be issued Monday for the approved the use of cameras in the 17th Judicial Circuit, which is comprised of Boone and Winnebago counties in northern Illinois. That court system joins four other circuits already experimenting with television cameras and photographers: the 15th Circuit in northwest Illinois, the 3rd Circuit in Madison County, the 21st circuit in Kankakee County and the 14th Circuit near the Quad Cities.

"I believe cameras in the courtroom, as an experiment, is going to sell itself," Kilbride said. "All the reports are that the press and media are working together famously well, in a successful manner. ... There are some judges who are cooperative and some who are not always so cooperative, but I think certainly all those judges who have decided to participate are interested in working with the media."

He made the remarks Saturday night in Macomb as the keynote speaker at the spring convention of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.

The state's high court announced in January that it would allow courtroom cameras for the first time in Illinois, under a pilot program. Around a dozen states nationwide do not allow cameras in circuit courtrooms.

The first high-profile test will be a trial this summer for Nicholas Sheley, who is accused of killing eight people in Illinois and Missouri.

However, judges have wide discretion in allowing cameras. There are restrictions. Filming during the testimony of sex abuse victims or during child custody cases is prohibited, and camera coverage of jurors or jury selection is not allowed. It's also prohibited in any juvenile, divorce, adoption, child custody, evidence suppression and trade secret cases.

The pilot program doesn't affect U.S. courts in Illinois, which do not permit cameras or recorders in court. Some of the highest-profile trials, including the corruption trial of ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, took place in federal court

Including Winnebago and Boone, Illinois now will have 13 counties participating in the experiment.

Kilbride said the court wanted to hold off for now on allowing cameras in courts in Cook County because of the size of the court system there and the competitive, "assertive" nature of Chicago's news media. He said Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans applied to have the county's courts participate.

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"We just think Chicago is too big to start at the front end of this, and he agreed with that," Kilbride said. "People who want to complain talk about, well, the O.J. Simpson trial ... It can be managed when it is handled and approached the right way."

Kilbride noted that the five court systems approved for the experiment are scattered statewide, and said he hoped that they could serve as an example to other circuits.

When asked what problem might arise in the courtrooms that would make the justices reconsider, Kilbride said, "I don't know how to describe it, but we will know it when we see it go badly."

"The more people can see about how (the court system) works in the real world, with real people, with real lawyers, and not actors, is good for all of us."

Kilbride also was asked his opinion of allowing reporters to transmit news from the courtroom using Twitter or other microblogging services. A Cook County judge has banned courtroom reporters' use of Twitter in the trial of a man accused of murdering Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew.

In response, Kilbride simply noted that the judge in the first Sheley case allowed tweeting. "It worked well there," he said. "I guess that would be my commentary."

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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