Last week, I wrote about the very beginning of our use of
interactive television to conduct court hearings. Since those early days, hardly a week goes by
when I do not conduct a bail hearing or other matter over ITV.
We have conducted dozens of review hearings for persons in
state hospitals by ITV. Children who
have been placed out of home are able to participate by ITV without having to
travel hours each way by unmarked squad car.
(We will appoint an attorney at the person’s location to sit with him or
her, while the original attorney is in Gaylord so that the person can consult
with counsel immediately and at the same time have the original attorney
present who is well aware of the history of the case.)
A side benefit is that often family members will appear at
the Courthouse to observe or participate in the hearing. If there are a few minutes before the next
hearing is to be called (or sometimes, even if there are not), the Court staff
will leave the courtroom and allow the family a little time to visit.
The most unique use of the ITV equipment, however, came at
the end of a very sad case. A
sixteen-year-old girl from Spain
came to our community as a foreign exchange student. The father of her host family was alleged to
have sexually molested her. She and her
parents returned from Spain
so that the victim could testify at the trial.
The host family father was found guilty by the jury and a sentencing
hearing was set for several weeks later.
The victim and her parents had neither the time nor the
money to come back to Minnesota
for the sentencing hearing, though they were most interested to learn what
happened. The Sibley County Attorney’s
Victim / Witness Coordinator and the Court Administrator were able to arrange
for an interactive television connection between the Courthouse in Gaylord and
a government office in Madrid,
Spain. The sentencing hearing was scheduled at 9:00
a.m. Minnesota time to accommodate an eight
hour time difference with Spain.
Court staff tested the system the day before, and the
hearing went off flawlessly. The video
was crystal clear and the audio was perfect – not even the delay that we
sometimes see when the network anchorman talks to the foreign correspondent on
television.
The victim and her family were able to observe and to
participate (though they declined to make a statement) at the sentencing
hearing. We were most pleased and proud
that we were able to make that happen!
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Next week: Home for
the Holidays
