미연방 사법부 재판기록을 온라인으로 공개하는 시험프로그램 승인

(US judiciary approves pilot program to release court recordings online )

미연방사법부는 일반 국민이 인터넷을 통하여 소송과정의 음성기록을 무료로 다운받을 수 있도록 하는 시험프로그램(pilot program)을 승인하였다. 미연방사법위원회의 정책결정집행위원회 회장인 미연방지방법원 판사인 Thomas F. Hogan은 시험프로그램은 사법절차를 좀더 투명화 하는 시도가 될 것이라고 밝혔다. 몇 달 후부터 시행 예정인 이 시험프로그램에 재판부의 참여 여부는 각 재판부의 재량이다.

정책결정집행위원회 회장인 미연방지방법원 판사인 Hogan은 이 시험프로그램은 현재 쟁점이 되고 있는 카메라를 이용한 법정중계방송을 허용하는 것과는 다르다고 밝혔다. 공화당  상원의원인 Arlen Specter는 지난 1월 미연방대법원의 소송절차는 원칙적으로 방송되는 것이 허용되고, 다만 예외적으로 그러한 방송이 특정 재판의 당사자들의 적법절차(due process)를 침해한다고 판단하여 다수 법관이 찬성한 때에는 방송을 허용하지 않을 수 있도록 한 법안을 제안한 바 있다.  몇몇 미연방대법관들은 대법원의 재판이 방송되는 것을 반대하면서, 재판의 방송을 허용하는 것은 재판 절차의 특성을 변질시킬 것이라고 주장했다.  미연방 제7고등법원과 제9고등법원 등 몇 개의 고등법원은 이미 구두변론의 음성기록을 웹사이트를 통해 제공하고 있다.

정책결정집행위원회 회장인 미연방지방법원 판사인 Hogan은 이 시험프로그램을 소송과정의 방송금지정책과 완전한 방송허용이라는 절충적인 방안으로 보고 있다. 재판기록의 공개를 주장하는 한 변호사는 “기술이 점점 발전하고, 기록된 매체에 대한 접근이 일상생활이 되고 있기 때문에 법원도 시대의 흐림을 따라 가야한다”고 주장한다.

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(US judiciary approves pilot program to release court recordings online )

WASHINGTON (AP) - A computer and an Internet connection may soon be all that are needed for anyone to hear closing arguments in a corruption trial or listen to the testimony of a mob turncoat.

The federal judiciary approved a pilot program this week to make free audio recordings of court proceedings available online. Although a court's participation in the program is voluntary, U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, the executive committee chairman of the policy-making Judicial Conference, said he expects the system ultimately will be widely used.

"I do hope the Judicial Conference efforts will be looked at as an attempt to see if we can make court proceedings more inclusive and transparent to people," Hogan said in an interview.

News organizations and open-government groups applauded the decision, which will allow the files to be played on television and radio and posted on Internet news sites and blogs.

At present, recording devices and cameras are prohibited in all federal courtrooms. However, in some high-profile cases the Supreme Court releases audio recordings of oral arguments. Some federal trial courts, such as the one in Philadelphia, sell daily audio recordings of hearings.

The pilot program, set to launch in the next few months, would put those recordings on the court's electronic records database for download.

"It gets the judges accustomed to the idea that electronic coverage can be beneficial," said Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio and Television News Directors Association. "It makes storytelling more accurate and more compelling."

Cochran's organization supports allowing cameras in federal courts, something some Supreme Court justices have adamantly opposed. All states have laws allowing some camera access to courts but, in practice, the policies vary. States such as Florida, for instance, routinely allow them while others such as Minnesota allow them only if all parties consent.

Hogan said the audio pilot program is not a step toward allowing cameras. Although that will be the normal practice someday, Hogan said the movement to open courts to cameras was hurt by the recent Florida case over custody of former Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith's corpse.

In that case, Judge Larry Seidlin was accused of showboating for the camera. On live, national television, he discussed everything from his wife to his morning swim, then sobbed as he issued his ruling.

"It was not the dignified judicial proceeding you'd expect in a courtroom," Hogan said.

He described the pilot program as a compromise between allowing no recording and turning the court into a set for a TV show. Attorney Nathan Siegel, who represented more than a dozen news organizations last month and won the release of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's grand jury tapes, agreed.

"As technology becomes more pervasive and access to recorded material becomes more a part of daily life, the courts are moving with the times," Siegel said.

Hogan, the chief judge in the Washington, D.C., federal court, made news in the Libby case by creating a media room with a closed-circuit video feed for the trial. He said the response was positive and he received no complaints about the broadcast of the Libby tapes.

With so many high-profile cases, the Washington courthouse is a good testing ground for the audio program, Hogan said. He said he does not yet know how many judges will sign up here or nationwide.

He said judges will have discretion over when to turn the recorder off, such as during an FBI informant's testimony or when a rape victim takes the stand. Ronald Collins, a scholar at the First Amendment Center, said lawyers will haggle over when that's appropriate.

"Inevitably there's going to be a U.S. attorney who objects on secrecy grounds, a defense counsel who objects on prejudicial grounds or invasion of privacy. There's going to be a victim who objects," Collins said. "Those determinations will be made on a case-by-case basis but the default position is open."