Judge removes juror photos from media, limits access to trial audio – Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indianapolis Traffic

DELPHI, Ind. (WISH) — Two new orders shared for the first time Wednesday by the special judge in the Delphi murders addressed to media covering the trial, and one order said she erased photos of jurors taken at confiscated cameras outside the courthouse. .

Allen County Judge Fran Gull has been strict about allowing public access to the trial after saying last year that she “lost confidence” in media coverage of suspect Richard Allen’s case. No cameras or electronic devices are allowed in the Carroll County Courthouse.

Allen, 52, is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in connection with the deaths of Abigail “Abby” Williams, 13, and Liberty “Libby” German, 14 years old. The girls’ bodies were found on February 14, 2017, a day after they disappeared, near the Monon High Bridge near Delphi.

Gull met with the media last week at the courthouse before the trial began. She authorized photos of the empty courtroom to be taken, which were broadcast by News 8. She also provided guidelines for media coverage.

Indiana’s trial rules, adapted in May 2023, allowed cameras in courtrooms with limitations including prior approval from the judge. The limits also include prohibiting cameras in courtrooms from recording certain people, including jurors.

Security at the courthouse was extremely tight. A large fence covered in black material was installed around the three-story, neo-classical style building. Some adjacent streets were closed in downtown Delphi.

The judge has limited reporters to the use of pen and paper only, and at least one of the reporters allowed in the courtroom daily is named the pool reporter. Outside the courthouse, between sessions, the daily pool reporter’s handwritten notes are shared electronically with media representatives, first as photos of the notebook’s handwritten pages, then as a typed transcript of the notes.

As the jury arrived in a van Friday for the first day of the trial, police outside the Carroll County courthouse confiscated cameras from three journalists: a Sony camcorder from NBC’s Eric Arnold; two cameras from Mike Conroy of The Associated Press; and two cameras from Alex Martin of Gannett, which publishes USAToday.com and four Indiana news sites, including IndyStar.com.

An order signed by Gull on Friday was made public Wednesday. Gull had ordered that the memory cards of the five confiscated cameras be removed “in order to erase the images of the jurors”. Additionally, the order prohibited the three photographers from “participating in the proceedings.”

Martin had said in a Gannett online report that he did not take photos of the jurors, that he put one camera on his hip and put the other camera on the ground when the jury arrived.

The judge did not specify in her order whether the altered cameras and memory cards had been returned to the journalists or their employers.

In Gull’s other public access order, which was signed and shared publicly on Wednesday, a criminal defense attorney who has provided analysis and content for high-profile cases across the United States is denied access to the audio recordings the court makes of the trial.

It is not uncommon nationwide for courts to make audio or, in some cases, video recordings of hearings for use during and after trial. For example, the United States Supreme Court records all oral arguments and posts the recordings on its website the same day.

In Indiana, any audio recordings made are shared only with prosecutors, defense attorneys, and court personnel involved in the specific trial; they are named in the Indiana Rules of Trial as the parties to the case.

In the trial of the Delphi murders, parties to the case reportedly include Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland, Assistant Prosecutors James Luttrull and Stacey Diener, and Allen’s defense attorneys Bradly Rozzi, Andrew Baldwin and Jennifer Auger.

Criminal defense attorney Andrea Burkhart, licensed in Washington state, had filed a motion with Gull seeking access to audio recordings from the Delphi murder trial and highlighting the lack of public access and media at the trial.

Gull ruled against Burkhart without hearing from the defense attorney.

In her ruling, the special judge cited the Indiana Trial Rules and wrote: “Because Andrea Burkhart is not a party to this proceeding, the Court is not required to provide the recording. The remainder of the Motion to Intervene is simply a complaint about how the Court conducts a trial.

Before the trial, Gull authorized the installation of a camera in the courtroom for the hearing in the Allen case on October 19, 2023. The video was to be shared by a group of media organizations. Live broadcasts were not permitted. If an organization chose to release the video, they would have to delay it.

In the order authorizing the cameras on October 19, 2023, she wrote: “This case has generated considerable public interest and media attention. »

However, in June she denied the installation of cameras in the courtroom, saying “the court has lost confidence in the ability of the media to cover the hearings appropriately.”

Indiana courtrooms opened May 1, 2023, to allow news media to bring cameras into courtrooms, with limitations. The Indiana Supreme Court said in a press release issued on February 15, 2023, that its decision followed a pilot program involving selected justices, including Gull.

In the press release, Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush noted, “Trial court judges are best positioned to determine how to balance the importance of transparency while protecting the rights of those involved in a case judicial. »

Indiana’s Rule of Trial, adapted May 1, 2023, states that recording means cannot “distract participants or detract from the dignity of the proceeding.”

The rule also says, in part: “All civil and criminal proceedings may be broadcast by the news media, except proceedings closed to the public either under state law or under the Indiana Supreme Court rules. No broadcast of a hearing is authorized without the authorization of the judge. Any authorized broadcast coverage of a court proceeding must comply with the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct and the Indiana Code of Judicial Conduct. The judge must prohibit the media broadcasting of minors; juvenile delinquency and CHINS issues; victims of violent crimes, sexual offenses and domestic violence; the jurors; attorney-client communications; bench conferences; and documents on lawyers’ tables and court benches. The judge has the discretion to refuse broadcast coverage of a witness for security reasons.