 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]
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