NOTE: Although the article does not state so, ExhibitOne was selected to design and integrate the evidence presentation and videoconferencing system for these new courtrooms.

HIGH-TECH REVAMP FOR COURT
Rewiring Under Way for Fancy Gadgets
By Mike Fimea

Arizona Business Gazette

It signified the start of renovations that will add eight high-tech courtrooms in downtown Phoenix.

Over the next nine months, workers will reconfigure space on the fourth and seventh floors to include the latest technological wizardry.

Each "e-courtroom" will be equipped with:

Ten to 12 flat screen monitors for evidence display and presentation.
High-backed jurors’ chairs – similar to those on airplanes – with assisted listening devices.
A two-way videoconferencing system.

An electronic presentation podium, including a document camera, VCR, computer and monitor.
Six voice-activated video cameras (five in the courtroom and one in the judge’s chambers).
A closed-caption real-time court reporting system.

Once the $3.25 million project is finished, Myers says the length of an average trial could be reduced by 25 percent. "If you hold three trials in two days, a 25 percent cut means you could hold four trials in two days," Myers said.

The monitors will be mounted at the judge’s bench, counsel table, the jury box and (for public viewing) suspended from the ceiling. The electronic podium will enable attorneys to make notes on displayed images, and videoconferencing allows for off-site witness testimony and broadcasting trials to remote locations.

"Everything will flow electronically," Myers said. "There will be a (monitor) in front of each juror so they can view documents on the screen, and the documents will be bar coded for storage and retrieval. That way the lawyers don’t have to fish around for them."

Myers is especially enthusiastic about the videoconferencing system. A remote camera could be taken into the state crime lab, he explained, allowing jurors to see how a DNA test or blood-alcohol analysis is conducted.

Videoconferencing also means the courtroom can come to the witness.

"We won't have to stop a trial at 3 p.m. because a witness was in the hospital or otherwise unable to get to the court," Myers said.

The Superior Court has been videotaping trials at its Mesa location for the past three years. By taking the trial tape home, Myers says lawyers have another way of preparing for the next day's proceedings.

"We're hoping that the appellate courts will eventually accept videotapes as a trial record," he said. "In Kentucky the appellate courts review them now."

The renovations designed by Dick & Fritsche Design Group and built by Kieborz Construction, will cover more than 35,000 square feet in the East Court Building.

The fourth-floor courtrooms are scheduled to be finished in September, and the seventh-floor courtrooms should be done by December.