Timothy C. Evans
Rita B. Garman
After nearly three years set to pause, the Illinois Supreme Court has pressed play on Cook County’s request to allow cameras into criminal courtrooms.
Starting next month, courtrooms at the Leighton Criminal Building will allow media to record video and audio of felony cases.
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Rita B. Garman and Cook County Circuit Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans announced approval of the pilot program in statements today.
Beginning Jan. 5, media representatives may request to record and photograph hearings and trials in felony courtrooms at 2600 S. California Ave. The first phase of the program will not include bond calls.
Cook County Circuit Court will be the 15th circuit in the state to receive the high court’s approval for extended media coverage. Launched during Justice Thomas L. Kilbride’s term as chief justice, pilots first began in downstate circuits in January 2012.
Cook County joins 40 other counties that permit camera access. Come January, more than 77 percent of the state’s population will live in a county where courtroom cameras are allowed.
Evans submitted an application to allow cameras in Cook County courtrooms in January 2012, but the high court opted to test the new media policies in smaller judicial circuits before allowing the pilot to begin in Cook County.
“The experience with media coverage in other judicial circuits has been overwhelmingly positive, and it is time to extend the pilot program to the most populous county in the state,” Garman said in a written statement.
In October, Evans supplemented the county’s application with a set of proposed local rules that built upon the statewide requirements.
Evans said the pilot program will allow the public to see its own court system “providing justice in action.”
“The public pays for this court — it is their court,” he said. “I think a lot of misunderstandings can be clarified with this kind of direct exposure.”
Evans said public impressions of the court are often shaped by the fictional and exaggerated courtroom dramas on TV and in movies. He said real footage will offer a more accurate view.
“It’s really a truth-seeking system, not one designed to harass or embarrass or disrespect,” he said. “They’ll be able to see that.”
Evans’ announcement named a Chicago-based Associated Press photo editor as the court’s media coordinator. He will submit requests on behalf of any media entity seeking to cover hearings or trials to the Cook County circuit clerk’s office, which will docket the requests and forward notices to attorneys, litigants and judges involved in the relevant case.
Parties and testifying witnesses may file objections to media coverage. The discretion falls to the assigned judge for a case, who will enter a written order on all requests for media coverage that specifies the scope of coverage allowed, if any. Judges’ rulings on coverage will not be appealable.
Evans’ order prohibits the use of sensitive, long-range microphones that can pick up faint conversations from across a room. Filming items on counsel tables or evidence carts will not be allowed unless the items are formally admitted into evidence.
Any images or audio recorded by media will be inadmissible as evidence or as a part of an official court record for the given case or any subsequent proceedings.
The policy also gives judges the authority to require the installation of temporary screens or dividers so jurors can’t see the cameras. Media may not film or record jury selection or any jury members until the conclusion of the trial.
Evans said the Leighton Criminal Court Building has three courtrooms with larger capacities, and the court will aim to hold hearings in those rooms when a case attracts media interest.
Circuit Judge Paul P. Biebel Jr., the Criminal Division’s presiding judge, said he’s confident his felony court judges will respect the Supreme Court’s desire to provide access without disrupting court proceedings.
The courtrooms at 26th and California are no stranger to high-profile cases.
From the murder trials for Juan Luna in 2007 and James Degorski in 2009 — both convicted of a 1993 mass murder inside a Palatine Brown’s Chicken restaurant — to the child-pornography trial faced by R&B star R. Kelly in 2008, to the murder trial for William Balfour, charged with killing three members of singer Jennifer Hudson’s family, Biebel said the media has been cooperative with the court’s rules in recent history.
“We expect this will run smoothly,” he said.
But Cook County Public Defender Abishi C. Cunningham said he has concerns about allowing cameras into the courtrooms.
Evans’ announcement provides that objections to media coverage by testifying victims, police informants, undercover agents and relocated witnesses “shall be presumed valid, but ruled upon by the assigned judge.”
Cunningham said no such presumptions of validity apply for the objections filed by the defendants’ called witnesses.
He also expressed doubt that the recordings will make the public more informed. While the courts weigh all presented evidence, news outlets may only run the most sensational sound bites.
“We’re not talking about gavel-to-gavel-type coverage,” Cunningham said. “How much can you learn in 15 seconds?”
The Supreme Court’s framework also gives the chief judge authority to deny media coverage for any case, and it allows trial judges to limit or stop coverage in their courtrooms. Such denials are not subject to appeal.
Illinois has allowed cameras in the Supreme and appellate courts since 1983. But Kilbride made trial court access for photojournalists a plank of his tenure as the face of the high court.
In the high court’s statement, he called the Cook County announcement “a big step forward.”
Richard D. Felice, president of the Illinois State Bar Association, said the state’s largest bar group “supports the pilot project, has supported it in the past and continues to support it.” He called the expansion into Cook County “the right move to make.”
J. Timothy Eaton, a partner at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP and immediate past president of The Chicago Bar Association, chaired a study group in the 1980s that backed the camera idea. He deemed the move in Cook County “long overdue.”
“I hope eventually we’ll see all 50 states and our federal courts have them,” he said. “And I think that will happen.”
A spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said the sheriff supports the program and has been working with Evans to ensure a smooth transition for court deputies tasked with enforcing the new policy.
A spokeswoman for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita M. Alvarez did not return requests for comment.
In a statement, Circuit Clerk Dorothy A. Brown said she is “enthusiastic” about the decision.
“We have worked with the chief judge’s office in preparation for this advent and have developed the court forms necessary for our role in accepting the media’s requests as well as any notices of objection,” she said. “The office of the clerk of court is ready and eager to begin this new and important period of increased media access.”
Evans said the long-term plans for media coverage in Illinois courtrooms rest with the Supreme Court, which has directed Evans and other trial judges to document feedback on all cases where extended media coverage was permitted and to send the reports to the justices.
If things go well, Evans said, he envisions an extension of the program to the civil side of the court and, eventually, to the entire court system.
“I view this as just the opening round,” Evans said. “We chose to have our pilot centered at 26th and California so that we could start in an area that would be controlled in terms of the logistical aspects of it. But it’s just the start.”