Source: https://cbaclelegalconnection.com/2011/09/13/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 19:53:18+00:00

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The Colorado State Judicial Branch has issued a revised form to file a case without paying the filing fee or to waive other costs owed to the state. The motion must be accompanied by the attached supporting financial affidavit. Practitioners should begin using the new form immediately.
This article provides an overview of the constitutional basis for open courts, Colorado’s expanded media coverage rule, and the history of television and other news media gaining access to courtrooms. It also discusses the use of blogging, tweeting, and other forms of new media to report on court proceedings. It was printed in the September 2011 issue of The Colorado Lawyer (Volume 40, Page 39) and will publish in two CBA-CLE Legal Connection blog posts. The second part of the article can be found here. Reproduced by permission of the Colorado Bar Association. © Colorado Bar Association. All rights reserved.
Expanded media coverage (EMC) refers to the news media’s use of cameras and microphones to record judicial proceedings, such as a trial, a sentencing hearing, or other court proceeding. Although courtroom proceedings presumptively are open to the public and members of the press, media organizations are required to get permission from the judge before gaining access for EMC. Private attorneys, prosecutors, and state trial judges will benefit from understanding how the EMC process works and the standards governing EMC.
This article provides an overview of the constitutional basis for open courts, the current Colorado EMC rule, and the history of television stations and other news media gaining access to courtrooms. The emergence of blogging, tweeting, and other forms of new media to report on court proceedings also is briefly discussed.
In four landmark cases decided in the 1980s, the U.S. Supreme Court established that the press and general public have a constitutional right of access to criminal trials and related judicial proceedings.1 Although this right is not expressly granted by the U.S. Constitution, the Court reasoned that the right to attend criminal trials is a fundamental right indispensable to the enjoyment of other, enumerated rights. A brief description of this constitutional guarantee provides context for understanding Colorado’s EMC rule and the news media’s right to petition courts for expanded coverage of court proceedings.
Although no court has yet recognized a First Amendment right to bring a camera or microphone into a courtroom,13 Colorado’s EMC rule is a powerful mechanism to facilitate the people’s constitutional right to “attend” judicial proceedings. When a camera and/or microphone is allowed into the courtroom to record or broadcast the testimony of witnesses and arguments of counsel, people who cannot be present at the courthouse are provided an opportunity to witness, first-hand, the workings of the judicial system.
Before the enactment of Colorado’s first EMC rule, district court judges were authorized to grant access to the courtroom for cameras and microphones, but only in the event no witness or juror objected to being photographed or recorded.14 In practice, this meant that any participant in a trial or court proceeding had veto authority over EMC; as a result, the news media stopped seeking permission for such access and Colorado’s courtrooms were effectively closed to still photography and broadcast media. In June 1983, the Colorado Supreme Court authorized an experimental program for EMC in the courts. As a result of that experimental program, a revised Canon of Judicial Conduct was proposed.
Adopted in 1985, Canon 3(A)(8) of the Colorado Code of Judicial Conduct set forth the standard courts were to apply in determining whether EMC should be granted for a particular trial or hearing. The EMC Canon, as the rule came to be called, also placed certain conditions on EMC and established procedures the media had to follow to obtain authorization for such coverage. The television and print media have had a successful twenty-five-year experience operating under Canon 3(A)(8) of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
The Colorado Supreme Court has not had occasion to hear a case in which EMC under Rule 2 or its predecessor Canon of Judicial Conduct was a basis for appeal. This state’s highest court has, however, made several public statements regarding the importance of open courts and the educational benefits of allowing the public to watch judicial proceedings.
1. See Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555, 580, and n.17 (1980) (news media and members of public possess First Amendment right to observe criminal trials); Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 457 U.S. 596 (1982) (recognizing right to attend testimony at criminal trial of minor victim of sexual offense); Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, 464 U.S. 501 (1984) (Press-Enterprise Co. I) (right to attend voir dire examinations of jury venire in criminal case); Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, 478 U.S. 1 (1986) (right to attend preliminary hearing in criminal case).
2. Richmond Newspapers, Inc., supra note 1 at 575.
8. Id. at 592 (Brennan, J., concurring) (citation and internal quotations omitted).
9. Globe Newspaper Co., supra note 1 at 606.
10. Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. 368, 429 n.10 (1979) (Blackmun, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), quoting Cowley v. Pulsifer, 137 Mass. 392 (1884) (Holmes, J.) (emphasis added).
11. Press-Enterprise Co. I, supra note 1 at 508.
12. Richmond Newspapers, Inc., supra note 1 at 572-73. See also Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 491 (1975) (“in a society in which each individual has but limited time and resources with which to observe at first hand the operations of his government, he necessarily relies upon the press to bring him in convenient form the facts of those operations”); Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 350 (1966) (the press “guards against the miscarriage of justice by subjecting the police, prosecutors, and judicial processes to extensive public scrutiny and criticism”).
13. One court has expressly rejected the claims of a First Amendment-based “right” to televise trials. See Courtroom Television Network LLC v. New York, 5 N.Y.3d 222 (2005) (noting that in the twenty-five years since Chandler v. Florida, 449 U.S. 560 (1981), which held that televised trials do not violate due process, “no Federal Circuit Court has opined that the Federal Constitution guarantees the media a right to televise trials”). Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay prohibiting “televising,” to five federal courts, the trial challenging the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8. See Hollingsworth v. Perry, __ S.Ct. __, 2010 WL 105264 (Jan. 13, 2010). Although the stay was grounded exclusively on procedural grounds, in that 5–4 ruling, the majority expressed significant concerns about the effect of televising witness testimony. See id. at *7. Nevertheless, the majority opinion recognized that “the arguments in favor of developing procedures and rules to allow broadcast of certain cases have considerable merit.” Id. at *8.
14. See In re Hearings Concerning Canon 35 of the Canons of Judicial Ethics, 296 P.2d 465 (Colo. 1956).
16. The Code of Judicial Conduct is an appendix to the Colorado Rules of Judicial Discipline, found at Chap. 24 of the Colorado Court Rules (Rules) (West Pub., 2009). The Code contains fourteen Canons, delineated as Canons 1 through 9.5.
17. Rule 2(a)(1)(A) and (C).
18. For example, expanded media coverage has been granted in a disciplinary proceeding involving allegations that a district attorney had lied and threatened prosecution to gain advantage in a civil case (People v. Chambers, Case No. 06PDJ036 (Dec. 26, 2006)), and in an enforcement action brought under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act involving alleged fraud by a building contractor (State v. Martinez, June 2005) (Judge Don Marshal).
19. Rule 2(a)(2)(A) to (C).
20. Rule 2(a)(3)(A) to (F).
23. Rule 2(a)(5)(A) to (C).
24. Rule 2(a)(6). The Office of State Court Administrator has prepared a form to request expanded media coverage (EMC), available at www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/File/Media/rqst_exp_media.doc.
(4) At least 2 weeks prior to the scheduled sentencing date.
(3) At least 5 days prior to the scheduled trial date.
26. This is likely due to the fact that only a party to the case, and not the media, can appeal a decision concerning expanded media coverage. Canon 3(A)(8)(f).
27. People v. Wieghard, 727 P.2d 383 (Colo.App. 1986).
29. Id., citing Chandler, supra note 13.
30. Id. (noting that “[a] hearing was conducted” and that “[c]ounsel were given an opportunity to present evidence”).
31. Order dated Oct. 10, 2002 from Office of the Chief Justice, Permitting Electronic and Photographic Access to Court Proceedings (on file with the authors). This was an extraordinary situation, because a typical EMC request does not seek a waiver of the restrictions in Rule 2.
32. “ABC to Eavesdrop on Colorado Trials,” The Denver Post A1 (Dec. 12, 2002).
Rudy E. Verner is a civil litigator at Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti L.L.P. in Boulder. Steven D. Zansberg is a civil litigator at Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, L.L.P. in Denver.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in United States v. Burleson on Monday, September 12, 2011.

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