Judges can allow more parties — not just members of traditional news media organizations — to take video and photographic recordings of courtroom proceedings, the Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled.
The ruling, hailed by proponents of open courts, overturned a Walton County judge’s refusal to allow a Yale University law student to take video for a project examining the state’s indigent defense system. The student, Joshua McLaurin, had sought to record criminal calendar proceedings last July.
McLaurin said some Georgia judges had allowed him to record courtroom proceedings. But when more and more judges denied him access, he set his goal on launching an appeal that would prompt the courts to clarify Georgia law.
“I couldn’t be happier with the opinion,” McLaurin, 26, said Wednesday.
The ruling does not mean anyone can walk into a courtroom and begin taking video of the proceedings, he noted. Interested parties must file the proper motions and then meet certain conditions, such as not creating a distraction in court.
Atlanta lawyer Peter Canfield, who specializes in First Amendment law, said the ruling should help promote open access to the courts. “The ruling says that in Georgia courts should interpret rules to provide public access rather than hamper it,” he said.
The appeals court’s opinion, written by Judge Christopher McFadden, said the state rule allowing requests for video and photographic recordings of courtroom proceedings refers to representatives of “the public media” and says judges may grant such access to “any person.”
The ruling acknowledged there could be concerns that someone such as McLaurin could produce a report or video that is disrespectful or misleading. “Such things have been known to occur,” and U.S. Supreme Court justices have expressed those concerns when excluding cameras in their court, McFadden said.
But Georgia law is more protective of the concept of open courtrooms than federal law, the ruling said.
The decision follows a series of actions last year that expanded public access to Georgia courtrooms.
In August, the agency that oversees judicial conduct said the practice of denying public access to courtrooms had become relatively widespread — and illegal — across the state. A federal judge in Albany also issued a ruling that said pretrial proceedings in criminal cases in a South Georgia judicial circuit should remain open to the public.
Stephen Bright, senior counsel for the Southern Center for Human rights, praised the appeals court decision.
“Not every citizen can be present in court to observe what happens there,” he said. “Many would be appalled by the way that people accused of crimes are processed through some courts with little or no attention to them as individuals. We hope that this provides a way for more Georgians to learn what is happening in the courts.”
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