The work to install new video monitors, microphones, cameras and other equipment began a few months ago. The first courtrooms getting the makeover are the five courtrooms where county court judges handle criminal cases, along with a sixth courtroom to be used for training.
The cost of the upgrades for these criminal courtrooms is pegged at about $150,000 per courtroom, said Kevin M. Carter, administrative judge for the court system’s Eighth Judicial District, which covers eight counties in Western New York.
The monitors will be used to display items, including photographs and video, that are entered into evidence during hearings or trials.
Once completed, all courtrooms will be outfitted with a number of small and large flatscreens around the room, including eight in the jury box and monitors at each attorneys’ table. There will also be monitors placed so members of the public in the courtroom have a view of what is happening.
Witnesses also will be able to view evidence on a screen at the witness stand and make notations on the screen.
“We think this is going to be good for all of our court users,” Carter said.
The plan is to have all five criminal courtrooms up and running with the new equipment by the end of the year, he said.
At present, when a video monitor is needed for a hearing or trial, the District Attorney’s Office sets up its own equipment for use in the courtroom. Defense attorneys use the same equipment. There are often two monitors used: one set up near the jury and another at the other side of the room.
The new system will also mean jurors don’t have to handle evidence and pass it along to be viewed one at a time.
The work represents the start of plans for ongoing modernization of technology in the state and county courts in Erie County, said Carter, who became administrative judge in 2021.
Once this phase is completed, courtrooms for judges who handle civil cases will be equipped to conduct full trials virtually, Carter said.
Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane left the DA’s office in 1999. When he came back in 2017 to work for then-new District Attorney John Flynn, the technology being used in the courtroom was the same as 18 years before.
“It’s the 21st century,” Keane said. “It’s long overdue.”
The District Attorney’s Office is providing $250,000 for the project.
Work on the courtroom that will be used to train court staff and attorneys has already been been outfitted with the new technology.
The funds from the District Attorney’s Office for the improvements come from a portion of state funding known as State Aid to Prosecution, which the DA’s office has been using to fund the positions of 10 attorneys, Keane said.
State funds are being used to cover part of the technology cost and the labor is being performed by employees of the court system. The court system’s Division of Court Modernization has set up an office in Buffalo, Carter said.
Courtroom upgrades have recently been completed in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties, with more work planned elsewhere, he said.
Other work has been done in Erie County to upgrade the audio system inside the ceremonial courtroom in 92 Franklin St.
Some judges have been temporarily displaced to other courtrooms as the renovations have taken place.
© 2024 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
